Objective: To analyze the effective protein of bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) intervened by active principle region of Yangxin Tongmai formula (apr-YTF) using the proteomics technology of isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ). Method: SD rats received apr-YTF 31.08 g·kg-1 for 5 days and used the drug-containing serum in rats with equivalent normal saline as blank control group. 5 days later

drug-containing serum was taken to intervene BMSCs

then cell membrane proteins were extracted

matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) was used to screen and identify the differentially expressed proteins

and bioinformatics analysis was conducted. Result: The 236 proteins and 62 differentially expressed proteins were identified

including 48 up-regulating proteins and 14 down-regulating proteins. These proteins are mainly involved in 102 kinds of biological processes

35 kinds of cell components

6 kinds of molecular pathways and 3 signal transduction pathways. These proteins interact in the three signal transduction pathways. Conclusion: The following proteins and signal transduction pathways play an important role in the process of apr-YTF to induce BMSCs differentiation into cardiomyocytes:presenilin-1

presenilin-2 in the Notch signaling pathway

syntaxin-4 protein in soluble N-ethyl maleimide sensitive fusion protein attachment protein (SNARE)

and mitogen-activated protein kinase 12 (MAPK 12) in the MAPK signaling pathway.