Effects of astragalus polysaccharides on ventricular remodeling and miRNA-21 in rats with acute myocardial infarction

Objective: To investigate the effect of Astragalus polysaccharides (APS) on myocardial remodeling and expression of miR-21 after myocardial infarction. Methods: Sixty SPF grade healthy male rats were divided into the sham operation group, the model group, astragalus polysaccharide low, medium and high dose groups and atorvastatin group randomly with 10 rats in each group. The left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) was ligated to establish myocardial infarction model in rats, and the corresponding drug intervention was given for 4 weeks. The changes of myocardial morphology and collagen were observed by HE and Masson staining. The levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and IL-10 were detected by ELISA. The mRNA expressions of miR-21, MMP2, TIMP-2, Col-I, and Col-III was detected by RT-PCR. The protein expressions of TLR4, MyD88 and NF-κB p65 were detected by Western blot. Results: Compared with the model group, APS could improve the pathological morphology of myocardial tissue, increase the level of IL-10 in myocardial tissue, reduce the staining area of collagen and the contents of IL-1 β, IL-6 and TNF-α (P