[Vascular dysfunction: Processes Caused by aging, approaches to restorative therapy and prevention (part 2).]

The second part of the review is devoted to the prospects for using diets containing plant products and the development of biologically active additives and products of plant and natural origin based on peat compounds, which have a wide raw material base in Russia, in the rehabilitation therapy and prevention of vascular dysfunction. Measures aimed at eliminating vascular dysfunction and, in particular, endothelial dysfunction lead to a decrease in the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. Epidemiological studies have found that diets that include plant products with a high content of antioxidants: polyphenolic compounds, such as flavonoids, are associated with a decrease in the incidence of cardiovascular diseases. Flavanols are the main class of flavonoids, are bioactive substances, their consumption improves the function of the cardiovascular system, since products rich in flavanols stimulate endothelial function, providing a vasodilatory effect, which is mediated by NO-synthase (NOS)-dependent production of nitric oxide (NO). Among such sources of flavanols, cocoa bean products imported to Russia are widely known, but the therapeutic efficacy of humic acids (HA) and products based on them deserve special attention, since they are a source of biologically active substances belonging to different classes of chemical compounds. In the process of peat formation, complex organic compounds are formed - humic substances. HA make up the predominant fraction of humic substances. HA are promising in the field of «green» chemistry as an accessible and cheap source of raw materials for the production of drugs. GC-based drugs have a wide range of biological activity, beneficially affecting the human body in various pathological conditions, the basis of which is vascular dysfunction. The widespread use of natural sources of GC for the production of which in Russia has unlimited potential, has not been sufficiently studied and used in domestic medicine. Given the cause-and-effect events that lead from endothelial dysfunction to the development of atherosclerosis, primary and secondary preventive therapy aimed at normalizing endothelial function is an important task of clinical research and new therapeutic strategies, including the creation of new biologically active products and drugs of natural and plant origin to achieve this goal.