Production of tanshinones (tanshinone I and IIA) was determined in roots of Salvia przewalskii micropropagated plants. It was found that the total tanshinone content (tashinone I and tashinone IIA) was dependent on the age of the analyzed plants. The roots of 2-year-old in vitro regenerated plants at flowering stage produced highest tanshinone levels (3.8 mg/g dry weight of tanshinone I and 7.6...

The root of Salvia miltiorrhiza (Tan shen) has been used as a traditional drug for circulatory disorders including ischemic diseases such as angina pectoris. Effective components protecting the myocardium against ischemia-induced metabolic disturbances; tanshinone IIA, tanshinone I, tanshinone V, tanshinone VI, and dihydrotanshinone were isolated. Among them, we found tanshinone VI as the most ...

Though tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone possess a variety of biological effects such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, antimetabolic, and anticancer effects, the precise molecular targets or pathways responsible for anticancer activities of tanshinone IIA and cryptotanshinone in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) still remain unclear. In the present study, we investigated the effect of tanshi...

Tanshinone IIA, one of the most pharmacologically bioactive phytochemicals isolated from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, possesses several biological activities such as anti-inflammation, anti-cancer, neuroprotection and hypolipidemic activities. In this study, we aim to investigate the hypocholesterolemic effect of tanshinone IIA in hepatic cells. We demonstrated that tanshinone IIA significantly i...

Tanshinone IIA is one of the active principles in danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge) widely used in treatment of cardiovascular disorders. We investigated the effect of danshen or tanshinone IIA on blood pressure and its possible mechanisms. An i.p. injection of danshen at 10 mg kg(-1) significantly lowered systolic blood pressure (SBP) of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) but failed to mod...

Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge) is a herb that has been widely and successfully used for treating inflammatory diseases in clinics in Asia. The relatively abundant tanshinones, tanshinone I, tanshinone IIA, cryptotanshinone, and dihydrotanshinone, have been isolated from Danshen. These tanshinones are the major diterpenes isolated from Danshen, and show cytotoxic effects on cell lines deriv...

Accumulating evidence reports that bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) regulate angiogenesis, postnatal neovascularization and tumor metastasis. It has been suggested that understanding the molecular targets and pharmacological functions of natural products is important for novel drug discovery. Tanshinone IIA is a major diterpene quinone compound isolated from Danshen (Salv...

Although tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a promised anticancer medicine targeting only the tumor, most cancers show resistance to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. For this reason, new therapeutic strategies to overcome the TRAIL resistance are required for more effective tumor treatment. In the present study, potential of tanshinone IIA as a TRAIL sensitizer was evalu...

Tanshinone IIA, extracted from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, exerts neuroprotective effects through its anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and anti-apoptotic properties. This study intravenously injected tanshinone IIA 20 mg/kg into rat models of spinal cord injury for 7 consecutive days. Results showed that tanshinone IIA could reduce the inflammation, edema as well as compensatory thickening of t...

Tanshinone IIA exerts anti-inflammatory effects and influences electron transfer reaction in mitochondria. In the present study, we demonstrated that tanshinone IIA increased intracellular production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which in turn induces heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) expression in RAW 264.7 macrophages. Tanshinone IIA inhibited COX-2 and iNOS expression in lipopolysaccharide-activat...