Cardiovascular BDNF is mainly localized within endothelial cells in which its expression is dependent on endothelial function. These results open new perspectives on the role of endothelial BDNF in cardiovascular health.

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Metabolic syndrome induced by HFD is reversed by exercise and diet modification. It is demonstrated that exercise training induces these beneficial effects without the requirement for dietary modification, and these beneficial effects may be mediated by shear stress-induced Akt/eNOS pathway activation. Thus, exercise may be an effective strategy to reverse almost all the atherosclerotic risk factors linked to obesity, particularly in the vasculature.

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BackgroundThis study explored Bacopa monnieri, a medicinal Ayurvedic herb, as a cardioprotectant against ischemia/reperfusion injury using cardiac function and coronary flow as end-points.MethodsIn normal isolated rat hearts, coronary flow, left ventricular developed pressure, heart rate, and functional recovery were measured using the Langendorff preparation. Hearts were perfused with either (i) Krebs-Henseleit (normal) solution, (control), or with 30, 100 μg/ml B. monnieri ethanolic extract (30 min), or (ii) with normal solution or extract for 10 min preceding no-perfusion ischemia (30 min) followed by reperfusion (30 min) with normal solution. Infarct volumes were measured by triphenyltetrazolium staining. L-type Ca2+-currents (ICa, L) were measured by whole-cell patching in HL-1 cells, a mouse atrial cardiomyocyte cell line. Cytotoxicity of B. monnieri was assessed in rat isolated ventricular myocytes by trypan blue exclusion.ResultsIn normally perfused hearts, B. monnieri increased coronary flow by 63 ± 13% (30 μg/ml) and 216 ± 21% (100 μg/ml), compared to control (5 ± 3%) (n = 8–10, p < 0.001). B. monnieri treatment preceding ischemia/reperfusion improved left ventricular developed pressure by 84 ± 10% (30 μg/ml), 82 ± 10% (100 μg/ml) and 52 ± 6% (control) compared to pre- ischemia/reperfusion. Similarly, functional recovery showed a sustained increase. Moreover, B. monnieri (100 μg/ml) reduced the percentage of infarct size from 51 ± 2% (control) to 25 ± 2% (n = 6-8, p < 0.0001). B. monnieri (100 μg/ml) reduced ICa, L by 63 ± 4% in HL-1 cells. Ventricular myocyte survival decreased at higher concentrations (50–1000 μg/ml) B. monnieri.Conclusions B. monnieri improves myocardial function following ischemia/reperfusion injury through recovery of coronary blood flow, contractile force and decrease in infarct size. Thus this may lead to a novel cardioprotectant strategy.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12906-017-1637-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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