Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 3 Table 1: Comparison of cardiac structural parameters as revealed by echocardiography in rats (x¯ ± s). Group N LAD (mm) sham 10 3.31 ± 0.15 HF 9 4.22 ± 0.23∗∗∗ HF + CAP 11 4.42 ± 0.22∗∗∗ HF + VAD 10 4.31 ± 0.30∗∗∗ IVSTd (mm) 1.22 ± 0.19 0.68 ± 0.14∗∗∗ 0.66 ± 0.14∗∗∗ 0.72 ± 0.13∗∗∗ IVSTs (mm) 1.36 ± 0.20 0.90 ± 0.17∗∗∗ 0.91 ± 0.13∗∗∗ 0.96 ± 0.12∗∗∗ LVPWTd (mm) LVPWTs (mm) 2.13 ± 0.33 2.67 ± 0.33 2.03 ± 0.32 2.58 ± 0.30 1.88 ± 0.23 2.44 ± 0.27 2.87 ± 0.33 2.48 ± 0.3 LVDd (mm) 5.79 ± 0.74 9.79 ± 0.66∗∗∗ 10.28 ± 0.69∗∗∗ 9.91 ± 0.71∗∗∗ LVDs (mm) 4.21 ± 0.64 8.91 ± 0.71∗∗∗ 9.18 ± 0.64∗∗∗ 8.59 ± 0.63∗∗∗ Notes: ∗∗∗compared to the sham group, P < 0.001; HF = heart failure; CAP = captopril; VAD = velvet antler of deer. Table 2: Comparison of functional parameters as revealed by echocardiography in rats (x¯ ± s). Notes: ∗∗∗compared to the sham group, P < 0.001; Δ compared to the AMI group, P < 0.05. HF = heart failure; CAP = captopril; VAD = velvet antler of deer. N 10 9 11 10 LVEF (%) 60.60 ± 9.01 24.67 ± 6.44∗∗∗ 32.82 ± 5.04Δ 34.80 ± 6.84Δ BNP (pg/mL) 0.89 ± 0.21 1.31 ± 0.21∗∗∗ 1.08 ± 0.16Δ 1.10 ± 0.18Δ Table 3: Serum BNP levels of all groups (x¯ ± s). N 10 9 11 10 Group sham HF HF + CAP HF + VAD 3. Results 3.1. Eﬀects of VAD and CAP on the Cardiac Structural Parame- ters in Rats with Heart Failure following Myocardial Infarction (Table 1). Compared to the SHAM group, the diameters of left atrium and left ventricle (LAD, LVDd, and LVDs) of animals in the heart failure groups were signiﬁcantly in- creased, the interventricular septal thickness (IVSTd and IVSTs) was decreased (P < 0.001) whereas no group diﬀer- ences were found with respect to LVPWTd and LVPWTs (P > 0.05). VAD and CAP treatment did fail to reverse the eﬀects of myocardial infarction on cardiac structural param- eters (P > 0.05). 3.2. Eﬀects of VAD and CAP on the Cardiac Functional Param- eters in Rats with Heart Failure following Myocardial Infarc- tion (Table 2). Compared to the SHAM group, animals in the heart failure groups had signiﬁcantly lower LVFS and LVEF (P < 0.001), indicating that cardiac function was se- verely impaired by myocardial infarction. Further compar- isons with the heart failure groups showed that the LVFS of the VAD group was signiﬁcantly elevated than that of the HF group (P < 0.05) whereas the similar trend in the CAP group did not reach signiﬁcance (P = 0.377). The LVEFs of both treatment groups were higher than that of the AMI group (Ps < 0.05 for the VAD group and the CAP group). These results indicated that both VAD and CAP partially reversed the functional damage induced by myocardial infarction. No diﬀerences were found between the two treatment groups (P > 0.05). 3.3. Eﬀects of VAD and CAP on Serum BNP Levels in Rats with Heart Failure following Myocardial Infarction (Table 3). The serum BNP levels of the HF group were signiﬁcantly higher than the sham group (P < 0.001), a change that was reversed by both VAD and CAP treatments (P < 0.05). No diﬀerences were found between the two treatment groups (P > 0.05). LVFS (%) 27.20 ± 6.16 9.11 ± 2.62∗∗∗ 10.64 ± 2.11 13.40 ± 2.91Δ Group sham HF HF + CAP HF + VAD Notes: ∗∗∗ compared to the sham group, P < 0.001; Δ compared to the AMI group, P < 0.05. HF = heart failure; CAP = captopril; VAD = velvet antler of deer. 4. Discussion Although there is no such a term as “heart failure” (HF) in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), its symptoms can be classiﬁed into the categories of dyspnea, palpitation, and edema. This disease is a condition of heart Qi deﬁciency and heart Yang devitalization due to Zang-Fu dysfunction that could be resulted from various factors such as improper diet, overstrain, and repeated invasion of exterior pathogens. The heart belongs to ﬁre, governs blood and vessels, and controls spirit. It is a vital organ of the body just like a monarch to a country and plays a leading role in physical activities. The kidney belongs to water and is the organ which stores essence as well as true Yin and true Yang. It is the congenital origin and the root of life. Heart Yang originates in kidney Yang. Normal physical activities of the human body must rely on mutual coordination and constraints of these two organs. The outﬂow of heart Yang is the primary force that warms kidney Yang. The deﬁciency of Yang in the heart and kidney leads to weak contraction, which causes vascular obstruction and blood stasis, and hence the symptoms of heart failure appear. Just as plain questions: Treatise on disharmony said, “People who cannot lie down because that will make them gasp and cough are those who have too much water in their body. Water generates from ﬂuid. Kidney is an organ of water, governing ﬂuid ﬂows and therefore controls lying down and gasping as well.” Accordingly, deﬁciency of the heart- and