Effect ofCrataegusUsage in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention: An Evidence-Based Approach

Abstract

Hawthorn (Crataegus oxyacantha) is a widely used Chinese herb for treatment of gastrointestinal ailments and heart problems and consumed as food. In North America, the role of treatment for heart problems dates back to 1800. Currently, evidence is accumulating from various in vivo and in vitro studies that hawthorn extracts exert a wide range of cardiovascular pharmacological properties, including antioxidant activity, positive inotropic effect, anti-inflammatory effect, anticardiac remodeling effect, antiplatelet aggregation effect, vasodilating effect, endothelial protective effect, reduction of smooth muscle cell migration and proliferation, protective effect against ischemia/reperfusion injury, antiarrhythmic effect, lipid-lowering effect and decrease of arterial blood pressure effect. On the other hand, reviews of placebo-controlled trials have reported both subjective and objective improvement in patients with mild forms of heart failure (NYHA I–III), hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. This paper discussed the underlying pharmacology mechanisms in potential cardioprotective effects and elucidated the clinical applications of Crataegus and its various extracts.

Ethanol extract of Zhongtian hawthorn lowers serum cholesterol in mice by inhibiting transcription of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase via nuclear factor-kappa B signal pathway

“…4,5 Furthermore, during the last decades, hawthorn has received more attention because of its activity in the treatment of CVDs, including reduction of plasma cholesterol and triacylglycerol concentrations, improvement of heart function, dilate blood vessels, and treatment of heart arrhythmia. 3,[6][7][8][9][10] There are different varieties of Crataegus. The European pharmacopoeia states that C. monogyna Jacq.…”

Anti-hypertensive medicinal plants and their mode of action

“…Significant lowering of SBP and DBP was observed (Asgary et al , 2003). Vasodilating effects of Cratageus have been investigated in-vitro as well as in-vivo (Walden and Tomlinson, 2011;Rastogi et al, 2015;Wang et al, 2013). Several mechanisms have been suggested for the observed vasodilating effects such as endothelium-dependent, NOmediated vasorelaxation via eNOS-phosphorylation (Brixius et al, 2006), a redox-sensitive Src-and Akt-dependent activation of endothelial NO synthase (Brixius et al, 2006) or through inhibition of ACE (Miller, 1998).…”

The clinical significance and costs of herbs and food supplements used by complementary and alternative medicine for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases and hypertension

“…In two studies, its addition to conventional treatment of HF has resulted in improvement of the patient's symptoms, 26,27 whereas another study showed that the addition of hawthorn extracts to conventional treatment of patients with HF did not improve their symptoms and did not stop the progression of HF. 28 Other studies have shown that the addition of hawthorn to patients receiving digitalis could increase its toxicity and it should be closely monitored.…”