PubMed · 2026-02-15
A compound called paeoniflorin, extracted from peony plants, was found to protect heart cells from a damaging form of inflammatory cell death in diabetic mice and lab-grown heart cells. It works by activating a key cellular pathway that reduces inflammation and improves heart function in diabetes-related heart disease.
Paeoniflorin significantly reduced key markers of inflammatory cell death (pyroptosis) in heart cells, including NLRP3, Caspase-1, GSDMD proteins, and inflammatory signals IL-1β and IL-18
Treatment improved cardiac function and reversed abnormal changes in cardiomyocyte surface area, collagen deposition, and heart-stress proteins ANP and BNP in type I diabetic mice
The cardioprotective mechanism was linked specifically to activation of the AMPK/Nrf2/NLRP3 signaling pathway, confirmed via siRNA knockdown experiments
