Molecular Mechanisms of Cardioprotective Actions of Tanshinones

Abstract

Tanshinones are lipophilic compounds derived fromSalvia miltiorrhiza(Danshen) that has been widely used to treat coronary heart diseases in China. The cardioprotective actions of tanshinones have been extensively studied in various models of myocardial infarction, cardiac ischemia reperfusion injury, cardiac hypertrophy, atherosclerosis, hypoxia, and cardiomyopathy. This review outlines the recent development in understanding the molecular mechanisms and signaling pathways involved in the cardioprotective actions of tanshinones, in particular on mitochondrial apoptosis, calcium, nitric oxide, ROS, TNF-α, PKC, PI3K/Akt, IKK/NF-κB, and TGF-β1/Smad mechanisms, which highlights the potential of these compounds as therapeutic agents for treating cardiovascular diseases.

Cryptotanshinone Inhibits STAT3 Signaling to Alleviate Cardiac Fibrosis in Type 1-like Diabetic Rats

“…The direct inhibition of STAT3 dimerization has been demonstrated as the mechanism of action of cryptotanshinone (Tang et al ., ). The effective dose of cryptotanshinone in STZ‐treated rats used in the present study was 10 mg/kg, as previously described (Zhang et al ., ); it is similar to the dose used to protect hearts in rats (Jin and Li, ). Although the effective dose of cryptotanshinone in human subjects remains unclear, cryptotanshinone is included in a formula containing ‘Danshan’ used in clinics conducting Chinese medicine (Reagan‐Shaw et al ., ).…”

“…Furthermore, cryptotanshinone has been shown to have the ability to inhibit STAT3 (Shin et al ., ). Recently, the cardiac protection induced by tanshinones has been summarized in a review (Jin and Li, ). A tanshinone mixture, PF2401‐SF, containing cryptotanshinone (19%) and other compounds provided liver protection at 200 mg/kg in rats (Park et al ., ).…”

The Influence of Selected Factors on the Aqueous Cryptotanshinone Solubility

“…It was proposed for the prevention and therapy of cardiovascular diseases [ 11 ], cognitive disorders [ 12 ], kidney and liver dysfunctions [ 13 , 14 ], and gynecological diseases [ 15 ]. In vitro and in vivo studies in rats presented reduced oxygen consumption in the myocardium and improved coronary circulation [ 16 ], as well as cardioprotective [ 17 , 18 ] and hypotensive activity [ 19 ]. Neuroprotective properties in Alzheimer’s disease [ 20 ], as well as anticancer properties, were reported [ 4 , 6 , 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”