Tanshinone IIA (C19H18O3) was extracted from danshen (Salviae miltiorrhizae radix). It has cytotoxic properties and induces apoptosis in many human cancer cells. The molecular mechanisms are poorly understood, therefore, in the present study, we aimed to elucidate its anticancer activity on human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells. The cytotoxic effects of tanshinone IIA on MDA-MB-231 cells were me...

Objective(s): Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) play a key role in the pathogenesis of diabetic vascular disease. Our current study sought to explore the effects of tanshinone IIA on the proliferation and migration of VSMCs induced by advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Materials and Methods: In this study, we examined the effects of tanshinone IIA by cell proliferation assay and cell mi...

Salvia miltiorrhiza has been widely used in the treatment of coronary heart disease. Tanshinones, a group of diterpenoids are the main active ingredients in S. miltiorrhiza. Two biosynthetic pathways were involved in tanshinone biosynthesis in plants: the mevalonate (MVA) pathway in the cytosol and the methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway in the plastids. The 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coen...

Four diterpenoid tanshinones and three phenolic acids were isolated from the crude ethanol extract of the cultured hairy roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge by bioassay-guided fractionation. By means of physicochemical and spectrometric analysis, they were identified as tanshinone ΙΙA (1), tanshinone Ι (2), cryptotanshinone (3), dihydrotanshinone Ι (4), rosmarinic acid (5), caffeic acid (6), and...

Tanshinone IIA has definite protective effects on various cardiovascular diseases. However, in hypertension-induced left ventricular hypertrophy (H-LVH), the signaling pathways of tanshinone IIA in inhibition of remodeling and cardiac dysfunction remain unclear. Two-kidney, one-clip induced hypertensive rats (n = 32) were randomized to receive tanshinone IIA (5, 10, 15 mg/kg per day) or 5% gluc...

This study describes a simple, easy and inexpensive method for extracting tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone from Salvia miltiorrhiza by sonication or decoction. A comparison of sonication and decoction showed a similar yield for cryptotanshinone, while the tanshinone IIA yield was slightly higher using sonication. An analytical method for detecting tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone in extra...

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) has become the leading cause of end stage renal failure, and prevention or retardation of DN has become a major goal in biomedical research. In this study, Tanshinone IIA, a component extracted from Salvia miltiorrhiza, was studied in experimental rats in which DN was induced by streptozotocin (STZ) treatment. The DN rats were treated with 10 mg/kg of Tanshinone IIA fo...

Tanshinone IIA, one of the active ingredients in the Chinese medicine Danshen, is cardioprotective when applied prior to sustained myocardial ischemia. The present study aimed to investigate whether pharmacological postconditioning with tanshinone IIA attenuates myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury when applied prior to prolonged reperfusion following a sustained ischemia. A total of 88 Sprag...

The potential for herb-drug interactions has recently received greater attention worldwide, considering the fact that the use of herbal products becomes more and more widespread. The goal of this work was to examine the potential for the metabolism-based drug interaction arising from seven active components (danshensu, protocatechuic aldehyde, protocatechuic acid, salvianolic acid B, tanshinone...

Nitric oxide (NO), a well-known signaling molecule plays an important role in abiotic and biotic stress-induced production of plant secondary metabolites. In this study, roles of NO in water stress-induced tanshinone production in Salvia miltiorrhiza hairy roots were investigated. The results showed that accumulations of four tanshinone compounds in S. miltiorrhiza hairy roots were significantl...