Protective effect of astragalosides on myocardial injury by isoproterenol in SD rats.

We have extracted and roughly purified astragalosides (AS) from Astragalus membranaceus, a natural herb used as a traditional Chinese medicine, regarded to have pharmacodynamic benefits of protecting injured myocardium. We hypothesized that the astragalosides might exert beneficial effect in myocardial lesion by preserving both energy metabolism and Ca(2+) homeostasis. Sprague-Dauley (SD) rats were injected with isoproterenol (ISO) subcutaneous (s.c.) at a dose of 5 mg/kg/day consecutively for two days as models and were treated with astragalosides and trimetazidine intraperitoneally (i.p.) respectively, at a dose of 5 mg/kg/day one day prior to isoproterenol for 8 days. The histological changes were alleviated in isoproterenol-injected SD rats treated with astragalosides. Compared with isoproterenol-injected rats, the concentration of myocardial intracellular [Ca(2+)]i was decreased, L-type Ca(2+) current density and sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca(2+) load were recovered, the concentration of myocardial ATP was increased and phosphocreatine (PCr) was decreased in rats treated with astragalosides. In conclusion, the efficacious treatment of astragalosides for myocardial injury might be through regulating intracellular Ca(2+) homeostasis and energy metabolism.