Objective The previous experiment showed that Ghrelin intervened in myocardial infarction leading to heart failure(HF) in rats at the early stage. The aim of this paper is to further investigate the correlation between growth differentiation facto-15 (GDF-15) and HF degree, which might lay a theoretical foundation of HF clinical treatments. Methods Eighty Wistar rats survived 6 hours in the modeling were randomly divided into sham operation(group A)( n =18), HF model (group B)( n =27), HF model of intervention(group C)( n =27). The blood GDF-15 expression level in 3 days，1 week，2 weeks，4 weeks and 8 weeks after surgery and the GDF-15 mRNA expression level in HF myocardial tissue in 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 8 weeks were tested by ELISA and real-time PCR. The rat myocardial ultrastructure was observed by electron microscope. Cardiac function was checked by B ultrasonic before executing the rats. Results Group B blood GDF-15 and myocardial tissue GDF-15 mRNA expression level were significantly higher than group C, but lower than group A. The difference was statistically significant( P <0.001).Ultrasonic testing results showed that group B heart increased significantly,left ventricular systolic and diastolic inner diameter increased obviously than group A and C in the 8 weeks. The difference was statistically significant ( P <0.001). Group B end-diastolic ventricular septal thickness, left ventricular thickness and left ventricular ejection fraction were significantly reduced than group A and C; In addition, myocardial ultrastructure shows group C change significantly than group B. Conclusion Ghrelin early intervention in HF in rats can improve heart function and reduce mortality; GDF-15 expression level can reflect HF lesions degree, and can be a new marker as auxiliary detection of HF.