Puerarin Protects Against Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury Via The Ampk/Akt/Gsk-3 Beta/Nrf2 Signaling Pathway

Puerarin is an active isoflavones derivatives used for the treatment of ischemic diseases. The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the protective effect of Puerarin on ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) through AMPK/Akt/GSK-3 beta/Nrf2 pathway and explore its underlying mechanism. The index of myocardial injury, inflammatory biomarkers were measured, respectively. Proteins levels were investigated by Western blotting. The results demonstrated that puerarin can decline lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), serum creatinine kinase (CK) levels, attenuated serum interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) production. Moreover, puerarin markedly enhanced the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and reduced the amounts of malondialdehyde (MDA) in I/R rats. The expression of Nrf2, AMPK, AKT and GSK-3 beta were significantly increased by puerarin. It was assumed that Puerari might be a new therapeutic candidate for the treatment of I/R possibly through the inhibition of the AMPK/Akt/GSK-3 beta/Nrf2 pathway.