The heart is an important organ of the body responsible for supplying blood, oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. When subjected to external stimuli, the heart produces different adaptive responses. By reviewing previous studies, this article reviews the regulatory mechanisms involving molecules such as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ-coactivator -1α (PGC-1α), estrogen receptor α (ERα), microRNA (miRNA), long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), CCAAT/ enhancer binding protein β (C/EBPβ), insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), and nitric oxide (NO), and finds that the adaptive molecular regulatory mechanisms induced by exercise in the heart are different from those induced by pathological stimuli. Traditional Chinese medicine or traditional Chinese medicine compound can exert therapeutic effects on pathological cardiac hypertrophy by regulating PGC-1α and ERα expression, affecting miRNA function, intervening in mTOR pathway and NO levels, etc. This article aims to summarize the relevant molecular mechanisms and research progress on traditional Chinese medicine intervention, providing theoretical basis and research ideas for the clinical prevention and treatment of cardiac hypertrophy.

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