Cardiac protection of Chinese herbal medicine inthe R6/2 mouse model of Huntington’s Disease

• Main Authors: Lin, Ching-Lung, 林清隆
• Other Authors: Wu, Chung-Hsin
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/94927204966892749579

博士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 生命科學系 === 104 === Huntington’s disease (HD) is considered as a irreversibly destructive genetic disease, characterized by cognitive impairment and motor dysfunction. Though HD has been considered as a neurodegenerative disease primarily, cardiac failure is also cause of death in HD patients. Some symptoms such as energetic dysfunction and metabolic injury that occur in HD neurons, and that also can be seen in failing cardiac myocytes of HD. Until now, the clinical drugs with profound cardioprotective effect in HD patients is quite rare. Some Chinese herbs have been claimed to relieve cardiovascular diseases by promoting blood circulation and supplementing vital energy. Thus, some specific Chinese herbs may be used as a potential therapeutic strategy for alleviating cardiac failure in HD patients. The herbal formula B307 is a well-known health supplement for enhancing cardiovascular function in Taiwan. Here we investigated the cardioprotective effects of oral B307 treatment in R6/2 HD mice. R6/2 HD mice were oral treated with B307 or with vehicle diet daily for two weeks. The level of cardiac performance and subcutaneous microcirculation of these R6/2 HD mice were measured at ten-weeks-old by non-invasive echocardiography and moorFLPI Laser Doppler imager respectively. Afterward, R6/2 HD mice and their wild type littermate controls (WT) were sacrificed. The heart tissues were examined by immunohistochemistry and western blotting. Our data showed that cardiac performance and subcutaneous microcirculation were ameliorated in R6/2 HD mice under oral treated with B307. We observed that myocarditis and aggregation of huntingtin protein in heart tissue of R6/2 HD mice were significantly enhanced than that of their WT, but were reduced under oral treated with B307. Proteins expression of VEGF, eNOS, SOD2 and Bcl-2 in heart tissue of R6/2 HD mice were reduced than that of their WT, but were enhanced under oral treated with B307. On the other hand, Proteins expression of 3-NT, 4-HNE, Bax, calpain, caspase-12, caspase-9, caspase-3, and TNF-α in heart tissue of R6/2 HD mice were enhanced than that of their WT, but were reduced under oral treated with B307. Base on our study, inflammation, oxidative stress and apoptosis in heart tissue were alleviated under oral treated with B307. We suggested that oral herbal formula B307 may be beneficial for cardiac protection in HD patients. It is possible that the herbal formula B307 can be developed as a health supplement for ameliorating cardiac failure of HD patients.