Bioactive compounds from herbal medicines to manage dyslipidemia

Publication date: October 2019Source: Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, Volume 118Author(s): Xinyu Ji, Shuai Shi, Bin Liu, Mingxu Shan, Danli Tang, Wantong Zhang, Yin Zhang, Lulu Zhang, Huamin Zhang, Cheng Lu, Yongyan WangAbstractDyslipidemia is a key risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, which are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. However, despite the advancement of the treatment and prevention of dyslipidemia, medications used to treat dyslipidemia are limited to chemical drugs. Herbal medicine, as an alternative treatment, has a long history of usage and provides more treatment options, and related studies have revealed intervention targets for dyslipidemia. Four lipid-lowering mechanisms of herbal medicines have been proposed and are discussed in this paper. These mechanisms are the inhibition of cholesterol absorption in enterocytes, reduction of cholesterol synthesis, elevation of reverse cholesterol transport, and promotion of cholesterol excretion in the liver. This review elaborates on the underlying molecular pathways involved in plasma lipid balance via bioactive compounds from herbal medicines.Graphical abstract
Source: Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research