Mechanism of curcumin in preventing left ventricular collagen network remodeling in rats with chronic heart failure

    LIU Runª²Xia, DANG Huiª²Min, DUAN Zhongª²Qi£¬DI Ling, YAO Qingª²Hai

    1Department of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine, Second Affiliated Hospital, Medical College, Xi¬ðan Jiaotong University, Xi¬ðan 710004, China£¬2Tianjin Chest Hospital, Tianjin 300051, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To investigate the effects of curcumin on the remodeling of the left ventricular collagen network in rats with chronic heart failure (CHF) and its mechanism. METHODS: Pressure overloaded rat models were established by partial abdominal aorta ligation. The rats were divided into the shamª²operated group, vehicle group, captopril group and curcumin group. Curcumin group was subdivided into the highª²dose, mediumª²dose and lowª²dose groups. After operation, we detected rat caudal arterial blood pressure weekly and observed cardiac hemodynamics at the 12th and 20th week. The content of cardiac muscle collagen and the expression of TNF¦Á were detected. RESULTS: At the end of the 12th week, the LVEDP, CVFª²V, CVFª²NV and TNF¦Á in vehicle group were significantly increased compared with those in other groups(P<0.05). Compared with that in vehicle group, the left ventricular function in curcumin group and captopril group were significantly ameliorated, as indicated by the decreased LVEDP, CVFª²V, CVFª²NV and TNF¦Á (P<0.05), and the effect of highª²dose curcumin group was better (P<0.01). During different periods of CHF, there were significant differences in vehicle group, captopril group and curcumin groups (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: It is the inhibitory effect of curcumin on TNF¦Á and the oxidation that underlie the mechanism of curcumin in preventing collagen network remodeling and improving the cardiac function. ......