Does Astragalus increase or decrease heart rate?

Astragalus can effectively improve the blood supply to the human myocardium, and it is also a very warming and tonic medicinal material, which is very beneficial to the body. When your heart function is unstable, doctors will recommend soaking Astragalus in water to improve this condition. Patients with heart disease must maintain a good emotional state at ordinary times, and should not experience extreme joy or sorrow. They should also develop good living habits, drink more boiled water, and eat more foods containing vitamins.

Astragalus; cardiovascular protection; pharmacological effects; clinical application

1 Protection against heart damage

1.1 Inhibition of calcium overload Meng Dan et al. observed the effect of astragaloside on calcium overload in cultured rat cardiomyocytes and found that astragaloside can inhibit the increase of intracellular calcium ion concentration caused by isoproterenol, suggesting that astragaloside has a mild calcium antagonist effect. One of the mechanisms is that astragaloside reduces the calcium load of the sarcoplasmic reticulum of cardiomyocytes and inhibits lipid peroxidation.

1.2 Reducing cardiomyocyte apoptosis Peng Dingfeng et al. used cultured cardiomyocytes to create a hypoxia model. 10 g/l Astragalus had no protective effect on ischemic myocardium, while 100 g/l and 1000 g/l Astragalus reduced the apoptosis rate by 34.96% and 37.02%, respectively. The results showed that a certain concentration of Astragalus may inhibit the apoptosis of hypoxic cardiomyocytes, but the effect was not positively correlated with the concentration. In addition, the level of TNF-a mRNA and the apoptosis rate in hypoxic cardiomyocytes were increased, suggesting that TNF-a may be involved in inducing apoptosis of hypoxic cardiomyocytes.

1.3 Stabilizing cell membranes Li Lun et al. observed that a certain concentration of Astragalus membranaceus could increase the activity of SOD and reduce the levels of MDA and CK, but did not restore them to normal. This effect was not positively correlated with the concentration, suggesting that Astragalus membranaceus may prevent cell damage by resisting free radicals and stabilizing cell membranes.

1.4 Myocardial ischemia-reperfusion protective effect Using the in vitro rabbit heart ischemia-reperfusion model and the cultured cardiomyocyte hypoxia-reoxygenation model, we used immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, immunoblotting, RT-PCR, biochemical detection and other methods at both the organ and cell levels and found that the drug has the effect of regulating the MAPK cell signaling pathway against reperfusion injury, and this effect is likely to be one of the mechanisms of its myocardial protective effect.

1.5 Studies on the effects on virus-infected cardiomyocytes have found that 9% astragaloside A can improve the survival rate of mice with viral myocarditis, reduce collagen synthesis and cardiomyocyte apoptosis, and is safe and effective. Its anti-apoptotic effect plays an important role in delaying or reversing myocardial fibrosis in viral myocarditis. Astragaloside can increase the expression of mRNA of sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium pump in virus-infected cardiomyocytes and improve the activity of sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium pump.