Cardiovascular diseases continue being the major cause of death worldwide,
despite the constant and consistent efforts made towards the management and control
of coronary artery diseases. These diseases are resulted by the metabolic imbalance
involving elevated energy requirements and deficient oxygen supply to the cardiac
myocytes, ultimately leading to myocardial necrosis. These diseases are closely
associated with several changes in metabolic and signaling pathways that involve
increased oxidative stress, excessive cytoplasmic and mitochondrial calcification,
elevated lipid peroxidation, disturbed antioxidant homeostasis, dynamic cellular
metabolism, irreversible DNA damage, and other pathophysiological alterations. The
mechanism of pharmacological action demonstrated by modern western medicines
usually adopt the lock-and-key model that involves the action of a principle therapeutic
agent onto a specific and selective target to regulate a prime metabolic and signaling
pathway, therefore becoming unsuitable to treat the disorders mediated by multiple
molecular pathways. The side-effects associated with the use of such synthetic drugs
are also an alarming health concern. The traditional system of medicine applies
multiple natural ingredients that contain several active metabolites, therefore imparting
a holistic pharmacological effect on multiple targets that orchestrate multiple pathways,
without eliciting significant side-effects. This book chapter reviews various Indian and
Chinese polyherbal formulations designed and developed according to the traditional
system of medicine, which have been appropriately formulated and adequately
characterized in-vitro, in-vivo, and in-silico following the stipulated scientific standards
and medical regulations. Significant emphasis is also laid to review the informatic
branches and cellular models available to evaluate and assess the pharmacology and
toxicology of such polyherbal formulations.
Keywords: Ayurveda, Cardiovascular Diseases, Chinese Therapeutics, Cell
Lines, Herboinformatics, Indian Therapeutics, in-vitro, Polyherbal Formulations,
Pharmacoinformatics, Traditional Medicine, Toxicoinformaics.
