Tanshinone IIA (Tan-IIA), one of the major lipophilic components isolated from the root of Salviae Miltiorrhizae, has been found to exhibit anticancer activity in various cancer cells. We have demonstrated that Tan-IIA induces apoptosis in several human cancer cells through caspase- and mitochondria-dependent pathways. Here we explored the anticancer effect of Tan-IIA in human bladder cancer ce...

Since the activated hepatic stellate cell (HSC) is the predominant event in the progression of liver fibrosis, selective clearance of HSC should be a potential strategy in therapy. Salvia miltiorrhiza roots ethanol extract (SMEE) remarkably ameliorates liver fibrogenesis in DMN-administrated rat model. Next, tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA), the major compound of SMEE, significantly inhibited rat HSC v...

Tanshinones are the major bioactive compounds of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (Danshen) roots, which are used in many therapeutic remedies in Chinese traditional medicine. We investigated the anticancer effects of tanshinones on the highly invasive human lung adenocarcinoma cell line, CL1-5. Tanshinone I significantly inhibited migration, invasion, and gelatinase activity in macrophage-conditioned...

The traditional Chinese medicine, Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen), promotes blood circulation and relieves blood stasis, also demonstrating good antioxidant activity. In the present study, therefore, the antioxidant activities of medicinal plant materials prepared using nanotechnology or traditional grinding methods were compared using three biological assays. It was found that the nanotechnology...

Tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA) is one of the major fat-soluble ingredients in Salvia miltiorrhiza which has been widely used for various inflammatory conditions associated with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disorders. However, the underlying anti-inflammatory mechanisms of Tan IIA are incompletely understood. The purpose of this study was to illuminate the anti-inflammatory mechanism of Tan IIA ...

Sodium Tanshinone IIA sulfonate (STS) is a derivative of Tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA). Tan IIA has been reported to possess neuroprotective effects against Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, whether STS possesses effect on AD remains unclear. This study aims to estimate whether STS could protect against scopolamine- (SCOP-) induced learning and memory deficit in Kunming mice. Morris water maze resu...

Tanshinone IIA (Tan-IIA) is extracted from Dan-Shen. Tan-IIA could inhibit human pancreatic cancer BxPC-3 cells through decreasing TCTP, Mcl-1 and Bcl-xl expression in vitro. Our previous study showed that Tan-IIA can inhibit hepatocellular carcinoma hep-J5 cells and human breast cancer BT-20 cells through inducing endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. In the present study, we investigated the ER ...

The cytotoxic effect of four tanshinones isolated from the dried root of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (Lamiaceae) were studied in vitro using P388 lymphocytic leukemia cells. Tanshinone I and tanshinone IIA were shown to be quite strongly cytotoxic against the cells (86.76% and 56.05% cell inhibition at 25 microg/ml). Dihydrotanshinone I and cryptotanshinone, which lack of saturation at C-15, show...

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,...