Bioactive components and molecular mechanisms of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge in promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis

Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (SM) is an outstanding herbal medicine with various traditional effects, especially promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis. It has been widely used for centuries to treat blood stasis syndrome (BSS)-related diseases. BSS is one of the basic pathological syndromes of diseases such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in traditional East Asian medicine, which is characterized by disturbance of blood circulation. However, the bioactive components and mechanisms of SM in the treatment of BSS have not been systematically reviewed. Therefore, this article outlines the anti-BSS effects of bioactive components of SM, concentrating on the molecular mechanisms.

Aim of the review: To summarize the bioactive components of SM against BSS and highlight its potential targets and signaling pathways, hoping to provide a modern biomedical perspective to understand the efficacy of SM on enhancing blood circulation to remove blood stasis.

Materials and methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed to retrieve articles published in the last two decades on bioactive components of SM used for BSS treatment from the online electronic medical literature database (PubMed).

Results: Phenolic acids and tanshinones in SM are the main bioactive components in the treatment of BSS, including but not limited to salvianolic acid B, tanshinone IIA, salvianolic acid A, cryptotanshinone, Danshensu, dihydrotanshinone, rosmarinic acid, protocatechuic aldehyde, and caffeic acid. They protect vascular endothelial cells by alleviating oxidative stress and inflammatory damage and regulating of NO/ET-1 levels. They also enhance anticoagulant and fibrinolytic capacity, inhibit platelet activation and aggregation, and dilate blood vessels. Moreover, lowering blood lipids and improving blood rheological properties may be the underlying mechanisms of their anti-BSS. More notably, these compounds play an anti-BSS role by mediating multiple signaling pathways such as Nrf2/HO-1, TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB, PI3K/Akt/eNOS, MAPKs (p38, ERK, and JNK), and Ca²⁺/K⁺ channels.

Conclusions: Both phenolic acids and tanshinones in SM may act synergistically to target different signaling pathways to achieve the effect of promoting blood circulation.

Keywords: Mechanism; Phenolic acids; Promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis; Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge; Tanshinones.