Research progress of mitochondria as target of traditional Chinese medicines in treatment of heart failure

Abstract

As the final destination of various cardiovascular abnormalities, heart failure is one of the diseases with the highest morbidity and mortality in the world. Due to its complicated pathogenesis, people urgently need to find new targets and effective treatment. Imbalance in myocardial energy metabolism, an important molecular biological basis for heart failure, affects the contractile and diastolic functions of the heart. As the main source of energy synthesis in cardiomyocytes and an important participant in various signaling pathways, mitochondria plays an indispensable role in the process of cell survival and death and has been considered as a critical target for the treatment of heart failure. Traditional Chinese medicine has a great effect on the treatment of heart failure through multi-components, multi-targets, and multi-channels. In recent years, more and more researches regard mitochondria as the target of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of heart failure, and have achieved significant results in improving mitochondrial function, increasing energy metabolism and energy supplement for cardiomyocytes, and resisting against oxidative stress. In this article, researches on the regulation of mitochondria in the treatment of heart failure by traditional Chinese medicine are reviewed from four aspects: mitochondrial biogenesis; mitochondrial electron transport chain and reactive oxygen species(ROS) production; metabolic substrates and metabolic enzymes; and calcium ion transport in the mitochondria. It provides a basis for further research and clinical application in the future.