Protective Roles of Notoginsenoside R1 on Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Isolated Rat Heart

The herbal medicine Panax notoginseng is used clinically to treat coronary heart disease, cardiac angina, apoplexy, and atherosclerosis This study investigated the protective effect of notoginsenoside R1 (NR1), which is a major bioactive component of P. notoginseng, on myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in isolated rat hearts. To induce myocardial I/R injury, isolated Sprague-Dawley rat hearts were perfused in a Langendorff heart assay. After 25 min of global ischemia, hearts were reperfused for 60 min. We monitored and recorded myocardial hemodynamic parameters in left ventricles, including antioxidative parameters and cardiac marker enzymes lactate dehydrogenase (LDH); creatine kinase (CK), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), and catalase (CAT). NR1 attenuated the I/R-induced increase in LDH, CK, and MDA and decrease in SOD, CAT, GSH-Px. Histopathological examination further confirmed the cardioprotective effect of NR1. In conclusion, our results demonstrated a cardioprotective effect of NR1 in I/R injury and indicate that this protection is related, at least in part, to the antioxidant activity of NR1.