Abstract:

Objective    To observe the effects of Qindan Capsule (QD) on  the TGF-β1/Smad Signaling Pathway and its effect on blood pressure to investigate its mechanism to improve the remodeling of vascular adventitia. Methods    Spontaneously hypertensive rats（SHR） were divided into the model group（SHR group） , the QD high dosage group（SHR+QDH group）, the QD low dosage group（SHR+QDL group）, and the losartan group（SHR+Los group）. At the same time, 16 Wistar-Kyoto（WKY） rats of the same age were the normal control（WKY group）  and the QD group（WKY +QDH group）. All rats were administered with corresponding medicine or normal saline and their blood pressures were measured. The level of TGF-β1 and Smad7 in the thoracic aorta were detected by immune-histochemical staining. Ⅰ, III collagen were stained with picric-sirius red and observed under a polarizing microscope. The data were quantified by ImagePro Plus.  Results    Compared with the SHR group, the blood pressure of the SHR+QDH group, the SHR+QDL group and the SHR+Los group were reduced (P<0.05), with decreased expression of TGFβ1 (P<0.05), increased  Smad7 (P<0.05), and  decreased  expression of Ⅰ, Ⅲ collagen (P<0.05). The SHR+QDL group was better than the SHR+QDL group (P<0.05).  Conclusion    QD can not only reduce blood pressure in SHR, but also can interfere with the TGF-β1/Smad Signaling Pathway by inhibiting the expression of Ⅰ, Ⅲ collagen in the arterial adventitia. Therefore, it can improve and even reverse the remodeling of vascular adventitia.

Key words: QD capsule; Vascular adventitial remodeling; TGF-β1/Smad; Ⅰ、Ⅲ collagen