BACKGROUND Natural products present in low quantity in herb medicines constitute an important source of chemical diversity. However, the isolation of sufficient amounts of these low abundant constituents for structural modification has been a challenge for several decades and subsequently halts research on the utilization of this important source of chemical entities for drug discovery and deve...

This study examined the effects of tanshinone derivatives (tanshinone I, cryptotanshinone, 15,16-dihydrotanshinone I) on prostaglandin (PG) and nitric oxide (NO) metabolism in an attempt to establish their anti-inflammatory mechanisms and to present a scientific rationale for the use of Salvia miltiorrhiza (danshen) in inflammatory conditions. From lipopolysaccharide-treated RAW 264.7 cells, cy...

Fifty-four Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 200~240 g were randomly divided into sham-operated group (sham group), vehicle-treated SNL group (model group), and Tan IIA-treated SNL group (Tan IIA group). Tan IIA was administered intraperitoneally to rats in the Tan IIA-treated group at a dose of 30 mg/kg daily for 14 days after SNL surgery. Paw withdrawal mechanical thresholds (PWTs) and paw withdra...

Drug treatment for toxoplasmosis is problematic, because current drugs cannot eradicate latent infection with Toxoplasma gondii and can cause bone marrow toxicity. Because latent infection remains after treatment, relapse of infection is a problem in both infections in immunocompromised patients and in congenitally infected patients. To identify lead compounds for novel drugs against Toxoplasma...

Biotic elicitors can be used to stimulate the production of secondary metabolites in plants. However, limited information is available on the effects of biotic elicitors from endophytic fungi on their host plant. Trichoderma atroviride D16 is an endophytic fungus isolated from the root of Salvia miltiorrhiza and previously reported to produce tanshinone I (T-I) and tanshinone IIA (T-IIA). Here,...

Tanshinone is the liposoluble constituent of Salia miltiorrhiza, a root used in traditional herbal medicine which is known to possess certain health benefits. Although it is known that tanshinones, including tanshinone I (T1), tanshinone IIA (T2A), and cryptotanshinone (CT), can inhibit the growth of lung cancer cells in vitro, the mechanism under which they act is still unclear. AURKA, an onco...

Chemical and physical quality attributes of herbal extract powders play an important role in the research and development of Chinese medicine preparations. The active pharmaceutical ingredients have a direct impact on the herbal extract's efficacy, while the physical properties of raw material affect the pharmaceutical manufacturing process and the final products' quality. In this study, tanshi...

CRISPR/Cas9 is a powerful genome editing tool that has been extensively used in model plants and crops, such as Arabidopsis thaliana, rice, wheat, and soybean. Here, we report the use of CRISPR/Cas9 to precisely knock out the committed diterpene synthase gene (SmCPS1) involved in tanshinone biosynthesis in Salvia miltiorrhiza, a traditional Chinese medicinal herb with significant pharmacologica...

UNLABELLED Background. Coronary heart disease (CHD) due to atherosclerotic inflammation remains a significant threat to global health despite the success of the lipid-lowering, anti-inflammatory statins. Tanshinone IIA, a potent anti-inflammatory compound derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), may be able to supplement statins by further reducing levels of circulating inflammatory mar...

Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (Labiatae) is an emerging model plant for traditional medicine, and tanshinones are among the pharmacologically active constituents of this plant. Although extensive chemical and pharmaceutical studies of these compounds have been performed, studies on the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors that regulate tanshinone biosynthesis are limited. In our stud...