Abstract:Objective To investigate the relationship between apoptosis of myocardial cells in cardiac failure rats and the expressions of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, and to discuss the relevant mechanism. Methods A total of 18 eight-week-old male cardiac failure rats were randomly divided into stellate ganglion block group, control group and sham operation group, 6 rats in each group. Rats in the stellate ganglion block group were given the right stellate ganglion blocking by 0.1% lidocaine intraperitoneal injection, the control group was given the right stellate ganglion blocking by 0.9% normal saline injection and the sham operation group were just only exposed the stellate ganglion without treatment. After 2 weeks of stellate ganglion blocking, all the animals were killed and heart tissue was been retrieved. The level of TNF-α and IL-1β in the myocardial tissue were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The critical protein PI3K, Akt and Caspase-3 in apoptotic signaling pathway were analyzed by Western boltting, and cell apoptosis in myocardial tissue were detected by TUNEL staining. Results Compared with the control group and sham operation group, stellate ganglion block can significantly reduce the concentration of TNF-α and IL-1β in the myocardial tissue (P < 0.05); compared with the control group and sham operation group, the relative expression levels of PI3K and Akt proteins of myocardial tissue were obviously increased in stellate ganglion block group (P < 0.05), and the relative expression levels of Caspase-3 were decreased (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group and sham operation group, myocardium cell apoptosis was significantly decreased in the stellate ganglion block group (P < 0.05). Conclusions Stellate ganglion block can significantly inhibit the myocardium cell apoptosis in cardiac failure rats. This anti-apoptosis effect is related to the up-regulation of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, that help to protect the cardiac function.