Natural Products Improve Organ Microcirculation Dysfunction Following Ischemia/Reperfusion- and Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Disturbances: Mechanistic and Therapeutic Views

Microcirculatory disturbances are complex processes caused by many factors, including abnormal vasomotor responses, decreased blood flow velocity, vascular endothelial cell injury, altered leukocyte and endothelial cell interactions, plasma albumin leakage, microvascular hemorrhage, and thrombosis. These disturbances involve multiple mechanisms and interactions among mechanisms that can include energy metabolism, the mitochondrial respiratory chain, oxidative stress, inflammatory factors, adhesion molecules, the cytoskeleton, vascular endothelial cells, caveolae, cell junctions, the vascular basement membrane, neutrophils, monocytes, and platelets. In clinical practice, aside from drugs that target abnormal vasomotor responses and platelet adhesion, there continues to be a lack of multi-target drugs that can regulate the complex mechanistic links and interactions underlying microcirculatory disturbances. Natural products have demonstrated obvious positive therapeutic effects in treating ischemia/reperfusion (I/R)- and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced microcirculatory disturbances. In recent years, numerous research papers on the improvement of microcirculatory function by natural products have been published in international journals. In 2008 and 2017, the first listed author of this review was invited to publish a review in the journal of “Pharmacology & Therapeutics” on the improvement of microcirculatory disturbances and organ injury induced by I/R using Salvia miltiorrhiza ingredients and other natural components of compounded Chinese medicine, respectively. This review systematically summarizes the effects, targets of action, and mechanisms of natural products regarding improving I/R- and LPS-induced microcirculatory disturbances and tissue injury. Based on this summary, scientific proposals are suggested for the discovery of new drugs to improve microcirculatory disturbances in disease.