Liu Cuiqing, Huang Yu
Department of Preventive Medicine, Basic Medical College, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University Hangzhou, China.
School of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Vascular Medicine and Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, China.
Front Pharmacol. 2016 Dec 1;7:469. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2016.00469. eCollection 2016.
Cardiovascular diseases are the principal cause of death worldwide. The potentially serious adverse effects of therapeutic drugs lead to growing awareness of the role of Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Chinese herbal medicine has been widely used in many countries especially in China from antiquity; however, the mechanisms by which herbal medicine acts in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases are far from clear. In this review, we briefly describe the characteristics of Chinese herbal medicine by comparing with western medicine. Then we summarize the formulae and herbs/natural products applied in the clinic and animal studies being sorted according to the specific cardiovascular diseases. Most importantly, we elaborate the existing investigations into mechanisms by which herbal compounds act at the cellular levels, including vascular smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, cardiomyocytes and immune cells. Future research should focus on well-designed clinic trial, in-depth mechanic study, investigations on side effects of herbs and drug interactions. Studies on developing new agents with effectiveness and safety from traditional Chinese medicine is a promising way for prevention and treatment of patients with cardiovascular diseases.
心血管疾病是全球主要的死亡原因。治疗药物潜在的严重不良反应使人们越来越意识到中药在心血管疾病治疗中的作用。中药自古以来就在许多国家广泛使用，尤其是在中国；然而，中药在预防和治疗心血管疾病中的作用机制尚不清楚。在这篇综述中，我们通过与西药比较简要描述了中药的特点。然后我们总结了在临床和动物研究中应用的方剂和草药/天然产物，并根据特定的心血管疾病进行了分类。最重要的是，我们阐述了对草药化合物在细胞水平（包括血管平滑肌细胞、内皮细胞、心肌细胞和免疫细胞）作用机制的现有研究。未来的研究应集中在设计良好的临床试验、深入的机制研究、草药副作用和药物相互作用的研究上。从中药中开发有效且安全的新药是预防和治疗心血管疾病患者的一个有前景的途径。
