The study aimed to elucidate the underlying pharmacological mechanism of the traditional Chinese medicine Pue in ameliorating myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI), a critical clinical challenge exacerbated by reperfusion therapy. In vivo MIRI and in vitro anoxia/reoxygenation (A/R) models were constructed. The results demonstrated that Pue pretreatment effectively alleviated MIRI, as manifested by diminishing the levels of serum CK-MB and LDH, mitigating the extent of myocardial infarction and enhancing cardiac functionality. Additionally, Pue significantly alleviated histopathological damage in MIRI-treated myocardium, as evidenced by HE staining and TUNEL assay. In vitro, Pue pretreatment significantly alleviated A/R-induced damage by decreasing LDH levels, increasing cellular activity, inhibiting autophagic lysosomal overactivation, inhibiting oxidative stress (ROS, LIP ROS, MDA), increasing antioxidant defense (SOD, GSH-Px), and increasing P62 protein expression while decreasing LC3II/I ratio. Furthermore, Pue inhibited apoptosis and maintained mitochondrial homeostasis by up-regulating the expression of Hairy and Enhancer of Split-1 (HES1) protein, which was crucial for its cardioprotective effects. Nevertheless, the cardioprotective efficacy of Pue pretreatment was negated via the knockdown of HES1 protein expression via pAD/HES1-shRNA transfection. In conclusion, Pue effectively ameliorated HES1-mediated MIRI-induced autophagy, apoptosis, and mitochondrial dysfunction.
Keywords: Apoptosis; Autophagy; HES1; Myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury; Puerarin.
© 2025. The Author(s).