Herbal drugs against cardiovascular disease: traditional medicine and modern development

• Herbs have attracted attention as complementary/alternative treatments against CVDs.
• Modern technology is crucial for revealing mechanisms of action of herbs against CVDs.
• Herb–drug interactions exhibit beneficial effects and/or side-effects.
• Modern evaluation offers new directions of herb drugs for CVDs in practice and industry.

Herbal products have been used as conventional medicines for thousands of years, particularly in Eastern countries. Thousands of clinical and experimental investigations have focused on the effects and mechanisms-of-action of herbal medicine in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Considering the history of clinical practice and the great potentials of herb medicine and/or its ingredients, a review on this topic would be helpful. This article discusses possible effects of herbal remedies in the prevention and treatment of CVDs. Crucially, we also summarize some underlying pharmacological mechanisms for herb products in cardiovascular regulations, which might provide interesting information for further understanding the effects of herbal medicines, and boost the prospect of new herbal products against CVDs.