Animal models with MI and treatments

The present study was approved by the Experimental Animal Ethics Committee of Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (ethical approval no. 16-24). Male adult Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats (age, 6-7 weeks; weight, 190-210 g) were obtained from Beijing Vital River Laboratory Animal Technology Co., Ltd. All the rats were kept in the barrier environment animal room of the Chinese Medicine Pharmacology Laboratory, Dongzhimen hospital [license no. SYXK(Beijing)2015-0001]. The animals were fed a standard laboratory diet and given free access to tap water. The cages were kept in a room with controlled temperature of 22±1˚C, relative humidity of 65-70% and on a 12 h light-dark cycle. A total of 40 rats were used in the study. All animals underwent a myocardial infarction operation or sham operation, as previously described (18). The rats in the control group underwent a sham operation with no left anterior descending coronary artery ligation. Following the surgical operation, 4 rats died and the surviving MI rats were divided randomly into three groups (9 rats in each group): MI (5 ml/kg/d normal saline by gavage); MI + YQHX (5 ml/kg/d by gavage) and MI + Flv (1 mg/kg/d by gavage). Rats that had undergone a sham operation were administered with 5 ml/kg/d normal saline by gavage. Treatments were administered on the day following surgery once a day for 4 weeks.