How phytocannabinoids affect cardiovascular health? An update on the most common cardiovascular diseases.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the cause of millions of deaths in the world annually. Despite the great progress in therapies, which are available for patients with CVDs, some limitations including drug complications still exist. Hence, the endocannabinoid system (ECS) was proposed as a new avenue for CVDs treatment. The cardiovascular action of cannabinoids is complex as they not only affect vasculature and myocardium directly via specific receptors but also exert indirect effects through the central and peripheral nervous system. The growing interest in phytocannabinoid studies has been broadened the knowledge about their molecular targets as well as therapeutical properties, nonetheless, some areas of their actions are not yet fully recognized. The purpose of this review is to summarize and update the cardiovascular actions of the most potent phytocannabinoids and the potential therapeutic role of ECS in CVDs, including ischemic reperfusion injury, arrhythmia, heart failure, hypertension as well as cardiac complications associated with the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 infections.