To explore the beneficial effect and mechanism of earthworm on pathological cardiac hypertrophy in rats through Akt/mTOR/NF-κB signaling pathway.A total of 30 Wistar rats were randomly divided into sham group,model group,earthworm low and high dose group (400 mg/kg,800 mg/kg),and captopril control group (50 mg/kg) with six rats in each group.Abdominal aortic coarctation was used to establish pathological myocardial hypertrophy model.Except that the arteries were not ligated in sham group,the other operation steps were same as those in the model group.Earthworm all dose group were given intraperitoneal injection according to body weight,while sham group and model group were given equal volume of normal saline,once a day for three weeks,respectively.Ejection fraction (EF) and short axis shortening rate (FS) were observed by echocardiography.The content of TNF-α in serum was determined by ELISA.H&E staining were used to observe the morphological changes of the heart.The mRNA expression levels of ANP,BNP,β-MHC and TNF-α,IL-6 were detected by qRT-PCR.Western blot was used to detect the expression of Akt/mTOR/NF-κB pathway related proteins.The results showed that compared with model group,EF,FS were increased in earthworm all dose groups and captopril control group,heart mass index (HW,HW/BW,and LVW/BW) were decreased.The extract of earthworm could significantly reduce the cardiac hypertrophy factor and inflammatory factors and activate Akt/mTOR/NF-κB signaling pathway.In conclusion,the extract of earthworm may play a protective role in myocardial hypertrophy by inhibited Akt/mTOR/NF-κB signaling pathway.