Cardiovascular Protective Effect of Shenmai Injection： A Review / 中国实验方剂学杂志

With the improvement of people's living standards and the increasing aging population， the incidence of cardiovascular diseases has sharply risen， making it the leading cause of death and a major "killer" for humans. The prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases still face severe challenges. Shenmai injection （SMI）， a Chinese medicinal preparation， is widely used in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases because of its individualized advantages in syndrome differentiation and definite efficacy. Meanwhile， its pharmacological effects and related mechanism are becoming increasingly clear. Modern research shows that SMI can exert cardioprotective effects by reducing myocardial inflammatory response， alleviating oxidative stress， inhibiting myocardial cell apoptosis， improving microcirculatory dysfunction after myocardial ischemia-reperfusion， protecting mitochondrial structure and function， inhibiting ventricular remodeling， reducing drug-induced cardiotoxicity， and possessing antiviral properties. Additionally， it can produce cardiovascular protection by relaxing blood vessels， protecting endothelial cells， and promoting angiogenesis. Furthermore， SMI can lower blood viscosity and lipid levels， thus improving blood rheology. In the future， more clinical trials and basic research are needed to clarify its therapeutic efficacy and target mechanism to further confirm the effectiveness and safety of its clinical application.

Research progress on chemical constituents and pharmacological effects of Ophiopogon japonicas / 中草药

Ophiopogon japonicus is widely distributed in China and rich in resources, and is a kind of medicinal plants with great utilization value. It could nourish yin, promote body fluid production, moisten the lung, ease the mind, and clear away heart fire. Modern research showed that there are several secondary metabolites, such as steroidal saponins, homoisoflavonoids and polysaccharides. Its pharmacological research mainly focused on the hypoglycemic effect, cardiovascular protection, enhanced immunity, anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, and antitumor effect. In this paper, the chemical compositions and pharmacological activities of O. japonicas were summarized, in order to provide reference for further study and application of O. japonicas.

Research progress of pharmacological effects of Mangiferin / 中国药理学通报

Mangiferin also called Chinonin or mango, is mainly extracted from the Anacardiaceae and Gentianaceae plants. As polyphenol compounds, Mangiferin shows a strong antioxidant activity and a variety of pharmacological effects. In recent years, laboratory study has identified a variety of pharmacological effects associated with Mangiferin including preventing diabetes and its complications, regulating lipid metabolism abnormalities, antitumor, cardiovascular protection,anti hyperuricemia, neuro-protection, anti oxidation, anti-inflammation, antipyresis and analgesia, anti-bacteria and antivirus, antiradiation, liver pro-tection, promoting skeletal growth, anti allergy and immune reg-ulation,etc. In this paper, the research progress of pharmacolog-ical effects of Mangiferin is reviewed, analyzed and summarized in order to provide reference for further research and develop-ment.

Research progress in Persicae Semen / 中草药

The aim of this review is to summarize the advances in studies on Persicae Semen, a Chinese herbal medicine, in the fields of nature and flavor, preparation, quality control, chemical composition, pharmacology, and toxicology. Persicae Semen and its extracts present various pharmacological activities, such as cardiovascular protection, neuroprotection, immunoregulation, antitumor effects and hepatic and renal protection. Though amygdalin, one of the main components in Persicae Semen, had been well studied, the activities and mechanisms of other potential active ingredients should also be more concerned.

Importância da proteção cardiovascular durante o tratamento da hipertensão arterial: diferenças entre os agentes inibidores do sistema renina-angiotensina-aldosterona / Importance of cardiovascular protection during arterial hypertension treatment: differences among renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors

A inibição do sistema renina-angiotensina-aldosterona (SRAA) demonstrou ser fundamental não somente no controle da hipertensão arterial, mas também na redução da progressão de doenças cardíacas, renais e vasculares, com impacto positivo na morbimortalidade. Diversas evidências revelam que o SRAA participa ativamente da origem da hipertensão arterial, com relação no desenvolvimento de obesidade, dislipidemia, resistência à insulina e doença crônica renal, além de ser o responsável pela homeostase eletrolítica. A ativação do SRAA se associa com níveis elevados de enzima conversora de angiotensina (ECA) e expressão aumentada de angiotensinogênio, fatores esses que levam ao aumento de angiotensina II, responsável por estresse oxidativo, vasoconstrição, hiperatividade do sistema nervoso simpático e aumento da reabsorção de sódio. O SRAA pode ser inibido em diferentes estágios e por mecanismos diversos, sendo que a forma como é inibido tem influência no prognóstico. E, dentre essas opções, há evidências claras do melhor benefício sobre a redução da mortalidade por todas as causas e da mortalidade cardiovascular com o uso dos inibidores da ECA (IECA) sobre os bloqueadores de receptores AT1 (BRA). Dentre os diferentes IECA, o perindopril, através de suas características específicas e benefícios clínicos comprovados em estudos randomizados de maior impacto, garante uma superioridade na proteção cardiovascular durante o tratamento dos pacientes hipertensos. Cabe destacar que os estudos que deram origem aos IECA tiveram a participação de pesquisadores brasileiros, com destaque para o Professor Sérgio Ferreira (Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto)

Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibition has demonstrated to be crucial not only to control arterial hypertension but also to reduce the progression of cardiac, renal and vascular diseases, with positive impact on morbidity-mortality. There is evidence revealing that RAAS participates actively on arterial hypertension origin, also taking part on obesity, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance and chronic renal disease, besides being responsible for electrolytic homeostasis. RAAS activation is associated with elevated levels of angiotensin conversion enzyme (ACE) and angiotensinogen overexpression, factors which increase angiotensin II, that induces oxidative stress, vasoconstriction, sympathy nervous systemhyperactivity and sodium reabsorption increase. RAAS may be inhibited in different stages and through different mechanisms, and the way it is inhibited is linked to prognosis. Among available options, there is clear evidence of a better benefit over all cause and cardiovascular mortality reduction when using ACE inhibitors (ACEI) over AT1 receptor blockers (ARB). Among different ACEI, perindopril, through its specific characteristics and clinical benefits proved on high level randomized trials guarantees a superior cardiovascular protection while treating hypertensive subjects. It's nice to highlight that Brazilian researches, mainly Professor Sérgio Ferreira (Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto), took part on the studies that discovered ACEIs.

Progress on the pharmacological research of puerarin: a review / 中国天然药物

Contemporary pharmacological research has demonstrated that puerarin, the most important phytoestrogen extracted from Pueraria lobata(Willd.) Ohwi, has protecting functions on the cardiovascular system, nervous system, osteoporosis, liver injury, and inflammation in vivo and in vitro. Most of these research studies focused on inhibiting oxidative stress and apoptosis through regulating various bioactivators and signal pathways. Among these, superoxide dismutase (SOD), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and malondialdehyde (MDA), and PI3K/Akt, MAPK, and NF-κB are of great importance. The data cited in this review were mainly obtained from articles listed in PubMed and Elsevier SDOL published from 1959 to 2013, and the search term used was "puerarin".

Role of cardiovascular protection played by dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors / 中华内分泌代谢杂志

Cardiovascular disease is a common complication of type 2 diabetes,causing considerable fatality.Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) inhibitors are new drugs for treatment of diabetes.Current studies have demonstrated that these drugs play an important role in cardiovascular protection.DPP-4 inhibitors can lower blood pressure,regulate blood lipid,and suppress inflammation and atherosclerosis.Treatment with DPP-4 inhibitors results in reduced size of myocardial infarct,reduced myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury,increased myocardial cell regeneration,and improved heart function,etc.Recent studies have also found that DPP-4 inhibitors are able to mobilize progenitor cells to the sites of cardiovascular injury and thus to promote tissue repair.

Recent advances of diosgenin in its pharmacologic activities and mechanism / 中国临床药理学与治疗学

Diosgenin,an important steroid sapogenin,is one of major precursors of synthetic steroids.It is rich in natural resources and has various significant activities such as anti-tumor,anti-inflammation,and cardiovascular-protection and so on.Recently,it causes increasing attention of scholars all over the world due to its valuable application in medicine.In this paper,the latest international research advances of diosgenin in its pharmacologic activities and mechanism were reviewed.