Cardioprotective effects of Achillea wilhelmsii on the isolated rat heart in ischemia–reperfusion

CONTEXT: There are some reports about protective effects of Achillea on the heart. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the effect of Achillea wilhelmsii extract on cardiac function during ischemia–reperfusion (I/R) injury in the isolated rat heart. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 60 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 6 groups; 1: Control group, 2: Control-ischemia (CI) 3: vitamin C (10 mg/kg), 4–6: Extract groups (E 100, E 200 and E 400 mg/kg). The animals received normal saline, vitamin C or A. wilhelmsii extract orally for 4 weeks. At the end of the treatment, the hearts were subjected to in vitro I/R Injury (20 min of global ischemia, followed by 40 min of reperfusion, Langendorff's mode). Heart rate (HR) and left ventricular pressure (LVP) were measured using a pressure transducer connected to a data acquisition system. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase (CK) activities in the effluent were measured to determine the myocardial injury degree. The malondialdehyde (MDA), total thiol groups (-SH), superoxide anion dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in myocardial tissue were detected to determine the oxidative stress degree. RESULTS: Pretreatment with Achillea wilhlemsii significantly decreased the LDH, CK activities, and MDA level, while it increased the LVDP, ±dp/dt(max), rate-pressure product (RPP), SH groups, SOD and CAT activities, and also the coronary artery flow. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Our findings indicated that Achillea wilhelmsii could provide protection for heart against the I/R injury which may be related to the improvement of myocardial oxidative stress states.