Psycho-cardiological disease refers to a clinical syndrome involving the coexistence of cardiovascular diseases and psychological disorders. It maintains a consistently high prevalence and seriously affects patients’ quality of life as well as long-term prognosis. Treatments with Western medicine present limitations including risks of drug interactions and a shortage of psychological intervention resources. Huanglian Wendan Decoction (黄连温胆汤, HLWDT), derived from Liu Yin Tiao Bian of the Qing dynasty, has the effects of clearing heat and resolving phlegm, regulating the stomach and benefiting the gallbladder, and tranquilizing the mind. It conforms to the core pathogenesis of psycho-cardiological disease: phlegm-heat disturbing the heart. By systematically reviewing mechanistic studies on HLWDT against psycho-cardiological disease in recent years, this paper summarizes the active components of HLWDT and its mechanisms in preventing and treating psycho-cardiological disease. It is found that this prescription exerts effects through multiple pathways, such as ameliorating immune inflammatory responses, regulating neurotransmitter metabolism, upregulating the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, alleviating oxidative stress injury, and inhibiting hyperactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, thus illustrating its advantages in multi-component and multi-target improvement of related psycho-cardiological diseases including coronary heart disease, arrhythmia, heart failure and hypertension. This provides a reference for the clinical promotion and in-depth research of HLWDT in treatment of psycho-cardiological disease.

psycho-cardiological disease  /  Huanglian Wendan Decoction  /  berberine  /  depression  /  anxiety  /  neurotransmitters  /  oxidative stress