Objective To explore the effect of renal sympathetic denervation (RDN) on cardiac remodeling in myocardial infarction (MI) rats and to investigate the related mechanism. Methods MI rats were induced by ligation of the anterior descending coronary artery. A total of 30 Wistar rats were randomly assigned to MI group (n=10), MI+RDN group (rats with RDN one week after MI, n=10), and Sham group (n=10). Four weeks after modeling, the left ventricular cardiac remodeling and function of rats were examined by echocardiography; the cardiac tissues in the infarct border zone were stained with Masson trichrome for fibrotic analysis. Protein expressions of collagen Ⅰ, collagens Ⅲ and transforming growth factor β₁ (TGF-β₁) were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Results Compared with the MI group, the MI+RDN group had significantly increased ejection fraction (EF) and fractional shortening (FS) and significantly decreased left ventricular internal dimensions at end systole and end diastole (all P<0.05). The results of Masson staining showed that RDN after MI attenuated the collagen deposition around the border area of the infarct region. RDN treatment also inhibited the protein expression of collagenⅠ, Ⅲ and TGF-β₁ in the border area of MI rats (P<0.05). Conclusion RDN treatment can attenuate cardiac remodeling and improve left ventricular function after MI, which might be associated with the inhibition of myocardial TGF-β₁ expression and the subsequent suppression of collagen deposition.