Objective: To investigate the effect and mechanism of paeonol (Pae) combined with Notoginseng total saponins(NTS) on tumor necrosis factor tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) and interleukin interleukin-1β(IL-1β) mRNA expression levels in myocardium tissues in rats with ventricular remodeling after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Method: Totally 80 male SD rats were selected

and 70 of them were randomly used to establish AMI rat models by ligaturing left anterior descending (LAD) artery. Alive and successfully modeled rats were randomly divided into model group

Pae group (8 mg·kg-1)

NTS group(40 mg·kg-1)

Pae+NTS group low-dose group (Pae 4 mg·kg-1+NTS 20 mg·kg-1)

high-dose group (Pae 8 mg·kg-1+NTS 40 mg·kg-1) and captopril positive control group (10 mg·kg-1) according to different interventions

and another 10 rats were used as sham operation group. The rats in various treatment groups received intraperitoneal injection of drugs for 28 days. Then the pathology changes of myocardial tissues were observed by htoxylin eosin(HE) staining; the protein expression levels of NF-κBp65 and p-IκB-α were detected by Western blot assay

and the mRNA expression levels of TNF-α and IL-1β were detected by reverse transcriptase PCR(RT-PCR). Result: As compared with sham operation group

there were obvious myocardial pathological changes in model group

with significantly increased NF-κBp65 and p-IκB-α protein expression levels as well as TNF-α and IL-1β mRNA expression levels (P<0.01). As compared with the model group

the myocardial pathological changes were improved to varying degrees in various treatment groups

with significantly decreased expressions of interest protein and interest mRNA (P<0.01). In addition

the improvement in combined drug use groups was superior to that in single substance drug group (P<0.05

P<0.01)

and the effect in high dose combined drug use group was more significant than that in low dose combined drug use group (P<0.05

P<0.01). Conclusion: The combination of Pae and NTS can play obvious synergistic action in improving ventricular remodeling in rats after myocardial infarction

and its mechanism may be associated with blocking the NF-κB/IκB pathway

down-regulating mRNA expression levels of TNF-α and IL-1β

and attenuating the inflammatory reactions.