Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To investigate effect of drug-containing serum of Xinfeng capsules on myocardial cell growth.METHODS: Drug-containing serum of Xinfeng capsules rat models were established by intragastricly administrated Xinfeng capsules. MTT assay wasused to evaluated H9C2 cells viability. H9C2 cells were divided into normal control group, triptolide group, lipopolysaccharide(LPS) group, drug-containing serum group and mi RNA-21 inhibitor group. micro RNA-21(mi RNA-21) inhibitor was structured and transfected into H9C2 cells. Western blot and immunofluorescence assay were applied to examine toll-like receptor 4(TLR4), phosphorylated p-38(p-p38) and p-p65 expression. Quantitative real-time PCR(q RT-PCR) was used to evaluated m RNA levels of mi RNA-21. Enzyme linked immunosorbent(ELISA) was used to measure tumor necrosis factor α(TNF-α), IL-6 and IL-17 levels.RESULTS: Drug-containing serum treatment significantly increased cell viability compared to LPS treated group. q RT-PCR results indicated that mi RNA-21 levels were significantly decreased in drugcontaining serum group compared to LPS group.Early and late apoptosis in drug-containing serum group were significantly decreased compared to LPS group. Western blot and immunofluorescence assay results showed that TLR4, p-p38 and p-p65 levels in drug-containing serum group were significantly decreased compared to LPS group. ELISA findings indicated that drug-containing serum significantly decreased inflammatory cytokine levels of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-17.CONCLUSION: Drug-containing serum of Xinfeng capsules protect against lipopolysaccharide instructed H9C2 cells from death by enhancing mi RNA-21 and inhibiting TLR4/p-p38/p-p65 signaling pathway and proinflammatory cytokines expression.

Key words: Drug-containing serum, Xinfeng capsules, MicroRNAs, Proinflammatory cytokines, Toll-like receptor 4, Myocardial cell, Apoptosis