Effects of puerarin on chronic inflammation: Focus on the heart, brain, and arteries

Abstract

Age-associated increases in physical and mental stress, known as allostatic load, could lead to a chronic low-grade inflammation in the heart, brain, and arteries. This low-grade inflammation potentially contributes to adverse structural and functional remodeling, such as intimal medial thickening, endothelial dysfunction, arterial stiffening, cardiac hypertrophy and ischemia, and cognitive decline. These cellular and tissue remodeling is the fertile soil for the development of age-associated structural and functional disorders in the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems in the pathogenesis of obesity, type II diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis, heart dysfunction, and cognitive decline. Growing evidence indicates that puerarin, a polyphenol, extracted from Puerara Labota, efficiently alleviates the initiation and progression of obesity, type II diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis, cardiac ischemia, cardiac arrythmia, cardiac hypertrophy, ischemic stroke, and cognition decline via suppression of oxidative stress and inflammation. This mini review focuses on recent advances in the effects of puerarin on the oxidative and inflammatory molecular, cellular, tissue events in the heart, brain, and arteries.

Keywords: artery; brain; heart; inflammation; puerarin.

FIGURE 1

Illustration of puerarin alleviation of oxidative stress and adverse inflammatory cell and tissue events in the heart, brain, and arteries in the pathogenesis of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis, heart disorders and cognitive decline, which are significantly increased with advancing age. Note: This illustration was generated using BioRender program (https://biorender.com/) by Kimberly Raginski McGraw of Laboratory of Cardiovascular Science, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health