Cardiovascular disorders or
cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are major illness associated with heart and blood vessels.
Reactive oxygen species (ROS), generated during excessive oxidative stress, are responsible for the pathophysiology of various cardiovascular disorders including
atherosclerosis,
cardiac hypertrophy,
cardiomyopathy,
heart failure,
ventricular remodeling,
ischemia/reperfusion injury and
myocardial infarction. Cellular "redox homeostasis" generally maintains the healthy physiology in cardiac myocytes and endothelial cells. However, during excessive oxidative stress body's endogenous system fails to maintain normal physiology hence
antioxidant supplementation is necessary, which could scavenge the
free radicals and other toxic radicals. Several
antioxidants such as
CoQ10,
beta carotene,
lycopene,
quercetin, reserveterol,
vitamin C and
vitamin E have shown preventive and therapeutic benefits in different forms of CVD. However, poor
biopharmaceutical properties and variable pharmacokinetics of several
antioxidants limits their use as therapeutic agents. Hence delivery of stable
antioxidants at their site of action is a need of current scenario. Several novel carriers based approaches have shown considerable benefits for the systemic and site specific delivery of
antioxidants for the preventive and therapeutic treatment of several
cardiovascular diseases. In the present review, conventional as well as novel
antioxidants have been discussed with special emphasis for the treatment of CVD. Further, the current review also highlights the critical challenges for
antioxidant delivery and various novel carriers (nanoformulations) including,
liposomes and nanoparticles explored for their efficient delivery in the therapeutic management of CVD.