Including herbal medicine, complementary and
alternative medicine (CAM) is popular worldwide. The
traditional Chinese medicine xinkeshu has been widely used to treat
coronary heart disease in China. This study was designed to investigate the protective effect and probable mechanism of
xinkeshu tablet to atherosclerotic
myocardial ischemia rabbit. Rabbits were divided into four groups (n = 12 each) and fed with different diet for 12 weeks: Control (standard diet), Model (high-
cholesterol diet), XKS (high-
cholesterol diet with 184.8 mg/kg/d
xinkeshu), and
Atorvastatin (high-
cholesterol diet with 5.0 mg/kg/d
atorvastatin). Plasma
lipoprotein, ECG, endothelium-dependent vessel relaxation, histomorphological study, and expressions of eNOS and
VCAM-1 on coronary arteries were assessed. The findings showed that, similar to
atorvastatin,
xinkeshu presented significant effects on rescuing endothelium-dependent vessel relaxation, inhibiting atherosclerotic progress, preventing
myocardial ischemia, and changing eNOS and
VCAM-1 expression. However,
xinkeshu showed no
lipoprotein lowering effect in
hypercholesterolemia rabbits. The results of the present study indicated that
xinkeshu exerted potent antiatherogenic and anti-ischemic properties on atherosclerotic
myocardial ischemia rabbit. An endothelial protecting effect may be involved in the mechanism other than
antihyperlipidemic effect.