Plant Polyphenols as Heart’s Best Friends: From Health Properties, to Cellular Effects, to Molecular Mechanisms of Action
Sanja Stanković, Slavica Mutavdžin, Dragan Djurić, Verica Milošević, Dragan Milenković
Abstract
Polyphenols are micronutrients found in fruits, vegetables, tea, coffee, cocoa, medicinal herbs, fish, crustaceans, and algae. They can also be synthesized using recombinant microorganisms. Interest in plant-derived natural compounds has grown due to their potential therapeutic effects with minimal side effects. This is particularly important as the aging population faces increasing rates of chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, cardiovascular, and neurological disorders. Studies have highlighted polyphenols' capacity to reduce risk factors linked to the onset of chronic illnesses. This narrative review discusses polyphenol families and their metabolism, and the cardioprotective effects of polyphenols evidenced from in vitro studies, as well as from in vivo studies, on different animal models of cardiac disease. This study also explores the molecular mechanisms underlying these benefits. Current research suggests that polyphenols may protect against ischemia, hypertension, cardiac hypertrophy, heart failure, and myocardial injury through complex mechanisms, including epigenetic and genomic modulation. However, further studies under nutritionally and physiologically relevant conditions, using untargeted multigenomic approaches, are needed to more comprehensively elucidate these mechanisms and firmly prove the cardioprotective effects of polyphenols.