Pyroptosis is a pro-inflammatory programmed cell death, and its role in cardiac inflammatory response has become a hot topic. The activation of nucleotide binding oligomerization domain like receptor protein 3(NLRP3) inflammasome is an important mechanism for pyroptosis induced by cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase 1(caspase-1). The existing studies have shown that cardiomyocyte pyroptosis participates in the pathogenesis of different cardiovascular diseases and the NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated cardiomyocyte pyroptosis has been most widely studied. Also, the intervention in NLRP3 inflammasome activation and cardiomyocyte pyroptosis contributes to ameliorating myocardial injury, which may be the main mechanism of many traditional Chinese medicines in exerting the cardio-protective effects. Therefore, this paper reviewed the studies on cardiomyocyte pyroptosis mediated by NLRP3 inflammasome and put forward the importance of exploring traditional Chinese medicine intervention in the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome.
Keywords: cardiomyocyte pyroptosis; nucleotide binding oligomerization domain like receptor protein 3(NLRP3) inflammasome; traditional Chinese medicine.