Diterpenoids from Salvia prionitis

Molecular Mechanism of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge in Treating Cerebral Infarction

Background

Cerebral infarction (CI) is a common brain disease in clinical practice, which is mainly due to the pathological environment of ischemia and hypoxia caused by difficult cerebral circulation perfusion function, resulting in ischemic necrosis of local brain tissue and neurological impairment. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory, CI is mainly due to blood stasis in the brain. Therefore, blood-activating and stasis-dissipating drugs are often used to treat CI in clinical practice. Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (SMB) is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine with good efficacy in promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, and treatment of CI with it is a feasible strategy. Based on the above analysis, we chose network pharmacology to investigate the feasibility of SMB in the treatment of CI and to study the possible molecular mechanisms by providing some reference for the treatment of CI with TCM.

Methods

The active ingredients and related targets of SMB were obtained through the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology (TCMSP) database, and CI-related targets were obtained from the GeneCards and DisGeNET databases. The target of SMB for the treatment of CI was obtained using Cytoscape software and visualized. GO and KEGG enrichment analysis was performed based on “clusterProfiler” within R, and the prediction results were validated by molecular docking technique.

Results

By constructing a compound-target (C-T) network, it was found that the active components in SMB mainly treated CI by regulating key proteins such as AKT1, IL-6, and EGFR. These key proteins mainly involve in pathways such as immune regulation, cancer and lipid metabolism, such as lipid and atherosclerosis, chemical carcinogenesis-receptor activation pathways, and IL-17 signaling pathway. In the GO term, it mainly regulates the response to steroid hormones, membrane rafts, and G protein-amine receptor coupled activity. Eventually, we verified that the luteolin and tanshinone IIA components in SMB have a good possibility of action with AKT1 and IL-6 by in silico techniques, indicating that SMB has some scientificity in the treatment of CI.

Conclusion

SMB mainly treats CI by regulating 94 proteins involved in lipid and atherosclerosis, chemical carcinogenesis-receptor activation, and IL-17 signaling pathway. Our research strategy provided a template for the drug development of TCM for the treatment of CI.

Ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, and pharmacology of Chinese Salvia species: A review

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

The genus Salvia is one of the largest genera of the Lamiaceae family. In China, about 40 Salvia species have been used as medicinal plants for treatment of various diseases, specifically hepatic and renal diseases and those of the cardiovascular and immune systems.

AIM OF THIS REVIEW

This review aims to provide systematically organized information on the ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and toxicology of medicinal Salvia species in China to support their therapeutic potential in the treatment of human diseases.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Relevant information on the Chinese Salvia species was obtained from scientific online databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, and SciFinder. Additional information was derived from other literature sources (e.g. Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2015 edition, Chinese herbal classic books, PhD and MSc thesis, etc).

RESULTS

Our comprehensive analysis of the scientific literature indicates that many Chinese Salvia species are valuable and popular herbal medicines with therapeutic potentials to cure various ailments. Phytochemical analyses identified diterpenoids and phenolic acids as the major bioactive substances in Chinese Salvia species. Crude extracts and pure compounds isolated from the Chinese Salvia species exhibited various pharmacological activities, typically targeting the cardiovascular and immune systems and hepatic and renal diseases.

CONCLUSION

This review summarizes the results from current studies about basic properties of medicinal Salvia species in China, such as active constituents and their mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, underlying molecular mechanisms, toxicology, and efficacy, which are still being studied and explored to achieve integration into medical practice.

De-O-ethylsalvonitin and salprionin, two further diterpenoids from Salvia prionitis

From Salvia prionitis two new diterpenoids, de-O-ethylsalvonitin and salprionin, were isolated, and their structures and NMR data were assigned by spectral analysis and computer modelling calculations.