Targeting vascular inflammation in atherosclerosis with plant extracts, phytochemicals, and their advanced drug formulations

Herbal plants are a great alternative source of medicine for various diseases. Various countries or a particular ethnic group have their own herbal-based treatment methods that have been in practice since antiquity. Herbal extracts prepared from medicinal plants and their isolated single compounds have been studied for their protective role against vascular inflammation/atherosclerosis using in vitro cell line and in vivo animal models with promising outcomes. Due to the advancement in drug delivery system, it is now possible to formulate herbal-based molecules into liquid crystalline nanoparticles, solid lipid nanoparticles, and so on to increase their stability, uptake by cells, improve bioavailability, and efficacy. In this chapter, we highlight various herbal extracts and chemical constituents as a potential preventive approach for vascular inflammation. Further, we have also discussed the advancement in drug delivery technology in targeting atherosclerosis with some study demonstrating the advantage of formulating novel drug delivery system.