What are the benefits of rhodiola extract for the heart?

The main ways in which rhodiola extract is helpful to the heart are as follows:

 1.Protecting Cardiomyocytes

- Antioxidant effect: Components in rhodiola extract such as salidroside and flavonoids have strong antioxidant capabilities. They can scavenge excessive free radicals in cardiomyocytes, such as superoxide anions and hydroxyl radicals, reduce oxidative stress reactions, and decrease the degree of lipid peroxidation. Thus, they protect the integrity and stability of the cardiomyocyte membrane and prevent cardiomyocytes from apoptosis or necrosis due to oxidative damage.

- Anti-hypoxia effect: Under hypoxic conditions, such as in pathological states like coronary heart disease and heart failure, rhodiola extract can improve the tolerance of cardiomyocytes to hypoxia. It regulates intracellular metabolic pathways to reduce the damage of hypoxia to cardiomyocytes. It can increase the glycogen reserve in cardiomyocytes and enhance the activity of anaerobic metabolic enzymes, enabling cardiomyocytes to produce more energy through anaerobic metabolism during hypoxia and maintain normal cell functions.

 2.Regulating Cardiovascular Function

- Improving cardiac hemodynamics: Rhodiola extract can dilate the coronary arteries, increase coronary blood flow, enabling the myocardium to receive more sufficient oxygen and nutrients, and improve myocardial blood supply. Meanwhile, it can also reduce myocardial oxygen consumption, improve the efficiency of the heart, and relieve the burden on the heart.

- Regulating blood pressure and blood lipids: Rhodiola extract helps regulate blood pressure, reducing blood pressure in patients with hypertension and increasing it in those with hypotension, showing a certain bidirectional regulatory effect. In addition, it can reduce the levels of cholesterol, triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the blood, and increase the level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, reducing the deposition of lipids on the vascular wall, preventing the occurrence of atherosclerosis, and thus protecting the heart blood vessels.

 3.Anti-arrhythmia

- Stabilizing myocardial cell membrane potential: Rhodiola extract can regulate the ion channels of cardiomyocytes, such as inhibiting the abnormal activities of sodium, potassium, calcium and other ion channels in cardiomyocytes, stabilizing the myocardial cell membrane potential, preventing abnormal depolarization and repolarization of cardiomyocytes, and thus reducing the occurrence of arrhythmia.

- Regulating cardiac autonomic nerve function: It can regulate the autonomic nervous system of the heart, maintaining the balance of sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve activities. During stress or heart diseases, sympathetic nerve excitement may lead to arrhythmia. Rhodiola extract can inhibit excessive sympathetic nerve excitement and enhance the activity of the parasympathetic nerve, maintaining the normal rhythm of the heart.

 4.Inhibiting Myocardial Fibrosis

- Reducing extracellular matrix deposition: Myocardial fibrosis is a common pathological feature in the development of many heart diseases. Rhodiola extract can inhibit the proliferation and activation of myocardial fibroblasts, reduce the synthesis and deposition of extracellular matrix such as collagen, thus delaying the process of myocardial fibrosis and improving the compliance and systolic function of the heart.

- Regulating cytokines and signaling pathways: Rhodiola extract can regulate cytokines and signaling pathways related to myocardial fibrosis, such as inhibiting the expression and activity of pro-fibrotic factors such as transforming growth factor-β and connective tissue growth factor, and blocking the activation of related signaling pathways, thus exerting an anti-myocardial fibrosis effect.