TABLE 1.

Natural compounds target mitochondrial to ameliorate atherosclerosis.

Natural compounds	Sources	Cell types	Changes to mitochondrial	Effects on mitochondria and atherosclerosis	References
Resveratrol	Polygonum cuspidatum	HUVECs	Mfn1, Mfn2 and OPA1↑, fission↓, ROS↓	Attenuated endothelial oxidative injury by regulating mitochondrial fusion, inhibiting mitochondrial fission via TyrRS-PARP1 signaling pathway.	Yang et al., 2019
Salidroside	Component of Rhodiola rosea	VSMCs isolated from aorta of male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats	Drp1↓,Mfn2↑, fission↓, ROS and NADPH↓	Inhibits high glucose induced proliferation of VSMCs by inhibiting mitochondrial fission and regulating oxidative stress	Zhuang et al., 2017
Corylin	Psoralea corylifolia L. (Fabaceae)	HUVECs A7r5 VSMC and RAW264.7 cells	Drp1 and Drp1 phosphorylation↓, fission↓, ROS↓	Inhibited the proliferation and migration of mammalian VSMC, in which rapamycin target protein (mTOR)/Dynamin-1 like protein 1 (Drp1) played an important role.	Chen et al., 2020
Ilexgenin A	Ilex hainanensis Merr.	RAECs and HUVECs	Drp1↓, fission↓ ROS↓, NO↑	Promote the expression of PSMB5, inhibit ROS production and Drp1 in a Nrf2 dependent manner, thereby inhibiting mitochondrial fission and improving endothelial dysfunction.	Zhu et al., 2019
Berberine	Coptis chinensis Franch	mouse podocytes	Drp1↓, MFF↓, Fis1, fission↓, ROS↓	Improve the mitochondrial damage of glomerular podocytes in DKD mice by inhibiting Drp1, Fis1 and mitochondrial fission.	Qin et al., 2019
Quercetin	Component of hawthorn	Calcifying VSMCs	Drp1↓, fission↓, ROS↓	Improve mitochondrial cristae rupture, inhibit mitochondrial fission, reduce ROS production, reduce apoptosis of VSMCs, thus alleviate adenine induced aortic calcification in rats.	Cui et al., 2017
Vitexin	Component of hawthorn	H9c2 cells	Mfn2↑, Drp1↓, fission↓, ROS↓, inhibited the release of Cyt-c, MMP(Δψm)↑, ATP↑	Protects H9c2 cells from I/R-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and significantly reduces ROS level by alleviating myocardial I/R injury in rats.	Xue et al., 2020
Crocin	Ingredient of saffron	Cells from muscle tissue of rats	Mfn2↑, Drp1↓	Change insulin resistance index and glucose homeostasis in diabetes by improving mitochondrial fusion and fission indices.	Peyravi et al., 2020
Baicalin	Baikal Skullcap	Rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells	Drp1↓, fission↓, Mfn2↑, Drp-1 Ser637 phosphorylation↑, MMP(Δψm)↑, ROS↓,	Protected against hyperglycemia aggravated I/R injury by regulating mitochondrial functions in a manner dependent on AMPK.	Li et al., 2017

HUVECs, human umbilical vein endothelial cells; RAECs, rat aortic endothelial cells; VSMCs, vascular smooth muscle cells; Drp1, dynamin-related protein; Mfn1, mitofusin 1; Mfn2, mitofusin 2; OPA1, optic atropy-1; ROS, reactive oxygen species; NADPH, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate; MFF, mitochondrial fission protein; Fis1, mitochondrial fission protein 1; Cyt c, cytochrome C; MMP (Δψm), mitochondrial membrane potential; DKD, diabetic kidney disease; I/R, ischemia/reperfusion.