Herbal Intervention in Cardiovascular Diseases

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the most prevalent cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Oxidative stress and chronic inflammation are the major causes of CVDs. In the vasculature, inflammation occurs due to injury, oxidation of lipids, infection, etc. that result in damage to cells of the blood vessels and progression towards plaque formation. Inflammation portrays an important role in all stages of plaque formation which leads to cardiac arrest or heart failure, peripheral vascular diseases and stroke and could be fatal. Unlike plaque formation, the birth defect in cardiovascular system also leads to short and poor quality of life. Among all preventive and therapeutic strategies for CVDs, herbal interventions are known to be effective with little or no side effects. Herbal interventions have been in use for medical treatments from the beginning of civilisation. WHO report states that approximately 80% of the global population depends on the herbal resources, of which many have moved to clinical use in the recent times. Phytochemicals have a wide array of properties especially anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and anti-lipidaemic which are effective in preventing and treating CVDs. They increase the expression of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory molecules mainly via nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) activation and reduce the levels of cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and inflammatory cytokines, hence effective in treatment of CVDs. In this chapter, herbal derivative-induced alteration in the mechanisms pertaining to pathophysiology of CVDs has been discussed.