| Abstract: | Objective: To investigate the effect of Astragalus injection (Al) on plasma levels of apoptosis-related factors in aged patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Methods: Seventy-two CHF patients were randomly divided into the Al group (36 cases) treated with Al and the control group (36 cases) treated with conventional treatment. Plasma levels of soluble Fas (sFas), soluble Fas ligand (sFasL), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) with monoclonal anti-human antibodies. Besides, New York Heart Association (NYHA) grading was assessed according to improved symptoms and left ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV), left ventricular end-systolic volume (LVESV) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were assessed by echocardiogram after 4 weeks of treatment. Results: After 4 weeks of treatment, NYHA grading was markedly improved in the two groups, but it was significantly better in Al group than that in the control group (P＜0.05). As compared with the control group, sFas, sFasL,TNF-α and IL-6 in the Al group were obviously lower, the difference between the two groups and between before and after treatment were significant (P＜0.05 or P 0.01).Moreover, in Al group, LVESV and LVEDV decreased, LVEF increased, which was significantly different than that before treatment (P＜0.05), respectively. Conclusion: Al could lower plasma levels of apoptosisrelated factors, and is one of the effective drugs in improving cardiac function in the aged patients with CHF. |
