Berberine is a promising therapeutic agent for myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Pre-clinical Evidence: Berberine as a Promising Cardioprotective Candidate for Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury, a Systematic Review, and Meta-Analysis.
Front Cardiovasc Med. 2021 ;8:646306. Epub 2021 May 26. PMID: 34124190
Cong Chen
Myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is one of the causes of most cardiomyocyte injuries and deaths. Berberine (BBR) has been suggested a potential to exert protective effects against myocardial I/R injury. This systematic review aims to determine the intrinsic mechanisms of BBR's protective effects in myocardial I/R injury.Seven databases were searched for studies performed from inception to July 2020. Methodological quality was assessed by SYRCLE's-RoB tool.Ten studies including a total of 270 animals were included in this study. The methodology quality scores of the included studies ranged from 5 to 7 points. The meta-analysis we conducted demonstrated that BBR significantly reduced myocardial infarct size and the incidence of ventricular arrhythmia, compared to control groups (<0.00001). Cardiac function of animals in the BBR treatment group was also markedly increased (<0.00001). The index of myocardial apoptosis and the levels of biomarkers of myocardial infarction (LDH and CK) were also decreased in the BBR treatment groups compared to the control groups (<0.00001).The pre-clinical evidence, according to our study, showed that BBR is a promising therapeutic agent for myocardial I/R injury. However, this conclusion should be further investigated in clinical studies.