• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.129-132
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• 1995

Intravenous administration of O-acetyliervine (an alkaloid from Vertrum album) produced a dose-dependent (10-100 .mu.g/kg) fall in blood pressure and tachycardia in anaesthetized normotensive rats. Pretreatment of animals with propranolol (1mg/kg) abolished these cardiovascular responses of O-acetyljervine similar to that of isoprenaline $(1\mu/ml)$. In isolated tissue experiments, O-acetyljervine $(10-100\mu/ml)$ produced a dose-dependent relaxation of phenylephrine-induced contraction of the rabbit aorta. In guinea-pig spontaneously beating atria, it caused positive inotropic and chronotorpic responses in a dose-dependent fashion $(10-100\mu/ml)$. These responses were abolished in the presence of propranolol $(1\mu/ml)$ similar to that of isoprenaline. These results indicate that O-accetyljervine is adrenoceptor stimulant $(\beta_1\; and\;beta_2)$ like isoprenaline.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.167-175
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• 2001

Recent studies have shown that cytokines are capable of modulating cardiovascular function and that some drugs used in the treatment of heart failure variably modulate the production of cytokines. Hige- namine, a positive inotropic isoquinoline alkaloid, has been used traditionally as cardiac stimulant, and reported to reduce nitric oxide (NO) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression in LPS- and/or cytokine-activated cells in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, we investigated whether higenamine modulates the production of proinflammatory cytokines in myocardial infarction. In addition, effects of higenamine on antioxidant action and antioxidant enzyme expression (MnSOD) were studied. Myocardial infarction (MI) was confirmed by measuring left ventricular (LV) pressure after occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) for 5 weeks in rats. Treatment of higenamine (10 mg/kg/day) reduced infarct size about 35 %, which accompanied by reduction of production TNF-$\alpha$, IL-6, but not IFN-${\gamma}$ and IL-1$\beta$ in the myocardium. The expression of TNF-$\alpha$ mRNA in infracted myocardium was significantly reduced by higenamine. Although iNOS mRNA was not detected, nitrotyrosine staining was significantly increased in myocardium of Ml compared to higenamine-treated one, Indicating that peroxynitrite-induced damage is evident in MI. Cytochrome c oxidation by peroxynitrite was concentration-dependently reduced by higenamine, an effect which was almost compatible to glutathion. Higenamine treatment did not affect the expression of MnSOD mRNA in myocardial tissues in MI. Taken together, higenamine may be beneficial in oxidative stress conditions such as ischemic-reperfusion injury and MI due to antioxidant action as well as modulation of cytokines.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.1658-1664
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• 2012

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) exhibits several beneficial biological activities including anticarcinogenesis and body-fat reduction. Now, we report that CLA ameliorated the oxidative stress in rat cardiomyoblast cells, H9c2, treated with hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$). Cells were cultured in DMEM/F-12 media at $37^{\circ}C$ with humidified atmosphere of 5% $CO_2$. The cells, cultured for 48 hrs, were seeded at a density $3.5{\times}10^3$ cell/well in a 24 well-plate and incubated for 24 hr. Using these cells, two experiments were performed: the cytotoxicity test of CLA (10, 20, 30, 40, and $50{\mu}Ms$), and the oxidative stress amelioration test of CLA (20 and $50{\mu}Ms$) against cells treated with $H_2O_2$ (10 and 50 ${\mu}Ms$) for 1 and 2 hrs. CLA enhanced the growth of H9c2 cells at any concentrations of CLA and at any incubation times (up to 6 days), indicating that CLA acts as a growth stimulant. No protective effect of CLA (20 and $50{\mu}Ms$) was seen in cells treated $50{\mu}M$ $H_2O_2$ for 1 and 2 hr, but these CLA concentrations ameliorated (p<0.05) the adverse effect of $10{\mu}M$ $H_2O_2$ in cells treated for 1 hr. These CLA concentrations significantly (p<0.05) reduced the proportion of apoptotic cells, relative to control cells. These results suggest that CLA protected H9c2 cells from the oxidative stress of $H_2O_2$ through the suppression of cell apoptosis and could be a useful compound for the prevention of cardiac diseases caused by oxidative stress.