Gastrodin protects against cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis

Abstract

Phenolic glucoside gastrodin (Gas), which is a main component extracted from the Chinese herbs Gastrodia elata Bl, is a well-known natural calcium antagonist with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory functions. It has long been used clinically for treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Previous studies have shown that gastrodin possesses comprehensive pharmacological functions. However, very little is known about whether gastrodin has protective role on cardiac hypertrophy. The aim of this study was to determine whether gastrodin attenuates pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy in mice and to clarify the underlying molecular mechanisms. Our data demonstrated that gastrodin prevented cardiac hypertrophy induced by aortic banding (AB), as assessed by heart weight/body weight and lung weight/body weight ratios, echocardiographic parameters, and gene expression of hypertrophic markers. The inhibitory effect of gastrodin on cardiac hypertrophy is mediated by ERK1/2 signaling and GATA-4 activation. Further studies showed that gastrodin attenuated fibrosis and collagen synthesis through abrogating ERK1/2 signaling pathway. Therefore, these findings indicated that gastrodin, which is a potentially safe and inexpensive therapy for clinical use, has protective potential in targeting cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis through suppression of ERK1/2 signaling.

Gastrodin: An ancient Chinese herbal medicine as a source for anti-osteoporosis agents via reducing reactive oxygen species

“…Recently, the anti-oxidative property of gastrodin has been investigated [22,27]. In this study, we could partially reverse H 2 O 2 -induced production of reactive oxygen species by treatment with gastrodin.…”

“…1, PubChem CID: 115067) is the chief pharmacologically active component found in G. elata [23]. Previous studies show that gastrodin is involved in some pharmacological activities, such as relaxation on smooth muscle [24], anti-cell death [25], anti-apoptosis [26] and anti-oxidative [22,27] activities. It is a potent antioxidant and free radical scavenger that can reduce the levels of lipid peroxidation [28], inhibit uncoupled oxidative phosphorylation [29], and elevate expression of genes encoding antioxidant proteins [30].…”

Gastrodin Inhibits Store-Operated Ca2+ Entry and Alleviates Cardiac Hypertrophy

“…Its mechanism in the nervous and vascular system may be related to gamma -aminobutyric acid (GABA), glutamate and calcitonin gene-related peptide (An et al, 2003; Zeng et al, 2006; Luo et al, 2011). A report suggests that gastrodin may attenuate the cardiac hypertrophy induced by aortic banding (Shu et al, 2012), highlighting an interesting possibility of using gastrodin as a potential anti-hypertrophic agent. However, the underlying molecular mechanism for the protective effect of gastrodin against cardiac hypertrophy remains largely unknown.…”

Bezafibrate Attenuates Pressure Overload-Induced Cardiac Hypertrophy and Fibrosis

“…Echocardiographic parameters were obtained according to our previous article [21]. A MyLab 30CV (Esaote SpA, Genoa, Italy) equipped with a 10 MHz linear array ultrasound transducer was used.…”