Beneficial effects of berberine on hemodynamics during acute ischemic left ventricular failure in dogs

In 18 dogs ischemic left ventricular failure characterized by a 30 percent reduction in peak rate of rise of left ventricular pressure (+dp/dt) and elevation of left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) to 15 mmHg or more was produced by ligation of the proximal left anterior descending coronary artery followed by serial occlusions of the distal left circumflex coronary artery. In 10 days, administration of berberine in an intravenous bolus injection (1 mg/kg, within 3 minutes) followed by a constant infusion (0.2 mg/kg/min, 30 minutes) increased the cardiac output (CO) from 1.25 +/- 0.12 to 1.61 +/- 0.17 L/min (P < 0.05), and +dp/dt from 810 +/- 85 to 1021 +/- 130 mmHg/s (P < 0.01), and decreased LVEDP from 16.5 +/- 1.3 to 12.0 +/- 1.0 mmHg (P < 0.05), diastolic blood pressure from 94 +/- 6 to 84 +/- 5 mmHg (P < 0.01), systemic vascular resistance from 7303 +/- 278 to 5442 +/- 231 dynes.x/cm5 (P < 0.01), but did not affect the heart rate. Injection of 5% glucose with the same volume did not improve CO and dp/dt (P > 0.05) but increased the LVEDP from 17.1 +/- 1.4 to 17.8 +/- 1.6 mmHg (P < 0.01) in 8 dogs. The levels of plasma concentration of berberine was determined with high-performance liquid chromatography. The changes in plasma drug level were found parallel to hemodynamic effects of berberine. The results of this study showed that berberine was able to improve the impaired left ventricular function by its positive inotropic effect and mild systemic vasodilatation.