†These authors contributed equally.
Academic Editor: Paramjit S. Tappia
Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has become one of the leading
causes of death and disability worldwide, and its incidence continues to increase
because of an aging population. Studies have shown that the function of
cardiomyocytes decreases during aging, leading to changes in the functional and
structural integrity of the heart, ultimately resulting in CVD. The decrease in
the number of functional cardiomyocytes has a negative impact on cardiac
function; thus, myocardial aging is one of the main factors that causes
heart-related diseases (such as CVD). Therefore, alleviating cardiac aging is one
of the main ways of treating aging-related cardiac diseases. In this study, we
evaluated the potential effect of taraxasterol on myocardial aging.
Methods: The effect of taraxasterol on the aging of cardiomyocytes was
analyzed in vivo and in vitro using a D-galactose treatment
mouse model of cardiomyocyte senescence. Furthermore, the effect of taraxasterol
on aging-induced desensitization of insulin signaling was also evaluated.
Results: The experimental results indicated that taraxasterol could
reduce cardiomyocyte senescence, which was evaluated using Sa-