Abstract: Objective: To investigate the effect of astragalus injection on the endoplasmic reticulum stress in adriamycin(ADR)-injured cardiomyocytes with calumenin silencing by shRNA. Methods: Firstly, the stable lentiviral calumenin shRNAvector was constructed. Secondly, in vitro cultured neonatal rat cardiac myocytes were randomly divided into control group、normal group (3 mg/L ADR), lentivirus infection group (lentivirus infection+3 mg/L ADR), Astragalus group 1 (3 mg/L ADR+Astragalus), Astragalus group 2 (lentivirus infection+3 mg/L ADR+Astragalus). The mRNA epression level of calumenin expression and reticulum stress chaperone in GRP78, GRP94 of each group was monitored by real-time PCR. Results: ①Compared with that of the control group, the calumenin mRNA expression in the normal group was reduced(P<0.05), yet its mRNA level in lentivirus the infection group and the Astragalus group 2 was further reduced(P<0.01). Compared with that of the normal group, the mRNA contents of calumenin in the Astragalus group 1 was increased(P<0.05). The expression of calumenin in Astragalus group 2 was increased comparing with lentivirus infection group (P<0.01). ②Compared with that in the control group, the expression of reticulum stress chaperone in GRP78, GRP 94 in lentivirus infection group and normal group was significantly increased (P<0.01); Compared with that in the normal group, the expression of reticulum stress chaperone in GRP78, GRP94 in Astragalus group 1 was reduced(P<0.01); Compared with that in the lentivirus infection group, the expression of reticulum stress chaperone in GRP78, GRP94 in the Astragalus group 2 was obviously decreased(P<0.01). Conclusion: ①Calumenin can alleviate endoplasmic reticulum stress induced by ADR-injured myocardial cells. ②Astragalus injection can restrain the endoplasmic reticulum stress induced by adriamycin, which may be achieved by the calumenin protein.

Key words: adriamycin, astragalus, calumenin, endoplasmic reticulum stress, cardiomyocyte, suckling rat, eticulum stress, cardiomyocyte, suckling rat