Gualou-Xiebai-Banxia decoction protects against type II diabetes with acute myocardial ischemia by attenuating oxidative stress and apoptosis via PI3K/Akt/eNOS signaling

Gualou-Xiebai-Banxia decoction has a long history of medical use for treating cardiovascular diseases in China. In this study, we investigated the protective effect and underlying mechanisms GXB in type II diabetes with acute myocardial ischemia (T2DM-AMI) rats. We hypothesized that GXB may display its protective effect on T2DM-AMI by reducing endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) apoptosis via activating PI3K (phosphatidyl inositol 3-kinase)/Akt (serine/threonine protein kinase B)/eNOS (endothelial nitric oxide synthase) signaling. Rats were challenged with a high-fat diet and intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin to induce a model of type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and coronary ligation to induce acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Changes in metabolites were assessed via enzyme-linked immunoassay and biochemical examination. The number and apoptosis rate of EPCs in peripheral blood were detected by flow cytometry. Target mRNAs and proteins in EPCs were analyzed by RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. The results demonstrated that GXB treatment decreased T2DM-AMI-associated changes in plasma fasting blood glucose, muscular enzymes, and blood lipids, and reduced oxidative stress. Furthermore, EPC apoptosis was increased in T2DM-AMI rats and was associated with decreased mRNA and protein levels of PI3K, Akt, and eNOS compared to the controls. Conversely, T2DM-AMI rats treated with GXB exhibited more circulating EPCs and downregulated levels of cell apoptosis, combined with increased mRNA and protein levels of PI3K, Akt, and eNOS compared to those of untreated T2DM-AMI rats. Our study showed that GXB treatment mitigated EPC apoptosis and promoted PI3K/Akt/eNOS signaling in T2DM-AMI rats.