Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major health problem worldwide with
high morbidity and mortality. A lot of effective treatments with various classes of
pharmaceutical synthetic drugs have shown significant benefits for controlling and
preventing CVD on individuals with high CVD risks. Apart from these
pharmacological agents, herbal medicines also are gaining their roles in the clinical
practice in terms of CVD therapy and prevention. Herbal medicines represent the main
therapeutic approaches of evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine for
CVD and can be tracked back thousands of years ago in ancient China. Although more
systematic, well-designed experimental and randomized clinical studies with sufficient
sample sizes are essential to further explore the exact pharmacological mechanisms of
herbal medicines and to validate their safety and pharmacokinetics, promising
therapeutic effects against CVD are already evidenced from a number of herbs and
herbal formulas containing potent ingredients. In this chapter, we focus on the
significant effects and potential underlying mechanisms of some key herbal medicines,
especially Chinese herbal formula Naoxintong, in the treatment of CVD, based on
clinical and basic science reports, which might help to shed light on further exploration
and clinical application of herbal medicines with cardiovascular protective effects.
Keywords: Cardiovascular disease, Coronary heart disease, Ferulic acid, Herbal
medicine, Herbal formula, Naoxintong, Paeoniflorin, Salvianolic acid B, Stroke,
Tanshinone IIA.
