Salvianolic acid B inhibits myocardial I/R-induced ROS generation and cell apoptosis by regulating the TRIM8/GPX1 pathway

Salvianolic acids and its potential for cardio-protection against myocardial ischemic reperfusion injury in diabetes

The incidence of diabetes and related mortality rate increase yearly in modern cities. Additionally, elevated glucose levels can result in an increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS), ferroptosis, and the disruption of protective pathways in the heart. These factors collectively heighten the vulnerability of diabetic individuals to myocardial ischemia. Reperfusion therapies have been effectively used in clinical practice. There are limitations to the current clinical methods used to treat myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. As a result, reducing post-treatment ischemia/reperfusion injury remains a challenge. Therefore, efforts are underway to provide more efficient therapy. Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (Danshen) has been used for centuries in ancient China to treat cardiovascular diseases (CVD) with rare side effects. Salvianolic acid is a water-soluble phenolic compound with potent antioxidant properties and has the greatest hydrophilic property in Danshen. It has recently been discovered that salvianolic acids A (SAA) and B (SAB) are capable of inhibiting apoptosis by targeting the JNK/Akt pathway and the NF-κB pathway, respectively. This review delves into the most recent discoveries regarding the therapeutic and cardioprotective benefits of salvianolic acid for individuals with diabetes. Salvianolic acid shows great potential in myocardial protection in diabetes mellitus. A thorough understanding of the protective mechanism of salvianolic acid could expand its potential uses in developing medicines for treating diabetes mellitus related myocardial ischemia-reperfusion.

Targeting mitochondrial circadian rhythms: The potential intervention strategies of Traditional Chinese medicine for myocardial ischaemia‒reperfusion injury

Coronary artery disease has one of the highest mortality rates in the country, and methods such as thrombolysis and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) can effectively improve symptoms and reduce mortality, but most patients still experience symptoms such as chest pain after PCI, which seriously affects their quality of life and increases the incidence of adverse cardiovascular events (myocardial ischaemiareperfusion injury, MIRI). MIRI has been shown to be closely associated with circadian rhythm disorders and mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondria are a key component in the maintenance of normal cardiac function, and new research shows that mitochondria have circadian properties. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), as a traditional therapeutic approach characterised by a holistic concept and evidence-based treatment, has significant advantages in the treatment of MIRI, and there is an interaction between the yin-yang theory of TCM and the circadian rhythm of Western medicine at various levels. This paper reviews the clinical evidence for the treatment of MIRI in TCM, basic experimental studies on the alleviation of MIRI by TCM through the regulation of mitochondria, the important role of circadian rhythms in the pathophysiology of MIRI, and the potential mechanisms by which TCM regulates mitochondrial circadian rhythms to alleviate MIRI through the regulation of the biological clock transcription factor. It is hoped that this review will provide new insights into the clinical management, basic research and development of drugs to treat MIRI.

Salvianolic Acid B: A Review of Pharmacological Effects, Safety, Combination Therapy, New Dosage Forms, and Novel Drug Delivery Routes

Salvianolic acid B is extracted from the roots and rhizomes of Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge., family Labiatae). It is a water-soluble, weakly acidic drug that has demonstrated antitumor and anti-inflammatory effects on various organs and tissues such as the lung, heart, kidney, intestine, bone, liver, and skin and protective effects in diseases such as depression and spinal cord injury. The mechanisms underlying the protective effects of salvianolic acid B are mainly related to its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti- or pro-apoptotic, anti- or pro-autophagy, anti-fibrotic, and metabolism-regulating functions. Salvianolic acid B can regulate various signaling pathways, cells, and molecules to achieve maximum therapeutic effects. This review summarizes the safety profile, combination therapy potential, and new dosage forms and delivery routes of salvianolic acid B. Although significant research progress has been made, more in-depth pharmacological studies are warranted to identify the mechanism of action, related signaling pathways, more suitable combination drugs, more effective dosage forms, and novel routes of administration of salvianolic acid B.

Crosstalk among Reactive Oxygen Species, Autophagy and Metabolism in Myocardial Ischemia and Reperfusion Stages

Myocardial ischemia is the most common cardiovascular disease. Reperfusion, an important myocardial ischemia tool, causes unexpected and irreversible damage to cardiomyocytes, resulting in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (MI/R) injury. Upon stress, especially oxidative stress induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS), autophagy, which degrades the intracellular energy storage to produce metabolites that are recycled into metabolic pathways to buffer metabolic stress, is initiated during myocardial ischemia and MI/R injury. Excellent cardioprotective effects of autophagy regulators against MI and MI/R have been reported. Reversing disordered cardiac metabolism induced by ROS also exhibits cardioprotective action in patients with myocardial ischemia. Herein, we review current knowledge on the crosstalk between ROS, cardiac autophagy, and metabolism in myocardial ischemia and MI/R. Finally, we discuss the possible regulators of autophagy and metabolism that can be exploited to harness the therapeutic potential of cardiac metabolism and autophagy in the diagnosis and treatment of myocardial ischemia and MI/R.

Salvianolic Acid B Inhibits Ferroptosis and Apoptosis during Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury via Decreasing the Ubiquitin-Proteasome Degradation of GPX4 and the ROS-JNK/MAPK Pathways

Myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (MIRI) is related to ferroptosis and apoptosis elicited by reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this research, we investigated the protective effect of salvianolic acid B (SAB) as a natural antioxidant on ferroptosis and apoptosis in the MIRI process, and discussed the protective mechanism inhibiting ubiquitin-proteasome degradation of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and the c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK) apoptosis signal pathway. We observed that ferroptosis and apoptosis occurred in the MIRI rat model in vivo and the H9c2 cardiomyocyte hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) damage model in vitro. SAB can alleviate tissue damage related to ROS, ferroptosis and apoptosis. Ubiquitin-proteasome degradation of GPX4 occurred in H/R models, and SAB reduced the ubiquitin-proteasome degradation of GPX4. SAB downregulates JNK phosphorylation and the expression of BCL2-Associated X (Bax)/B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) and Caspase-3 to inhibit apoptosis. The role of GPX4 in the cardioprotection of SAB was further verified by the elimination effect of the GPX4 inhibitor RAS-selective lethal 3 (RSL3). This research shows that SAB may be used as a myocardial protective agent against oxidative stress, ferroptosis and apoptosis, and has potential clinical application prospects.

Research progress of glutathione peroxidase family (GPX) in redoxidation

Maintaining the balance of a cell's redox function is key to determining cell fate. In the critical redox system of mammalian cells, glutathione peroxidase (GPX) is the most prominent family of proteins with a multifaceted function that affects almost all cellular processes. A total of eight members of the GPX family are currently found, namely GPX1-GPX8. They have long been used as antioxidant enzymes to play an important role in combating oxidative stress and maintaining redox balance. However, each member of the GPX family has a different mechanism of action and site of action in maintaining redox balance. GPX1-4 and GPX6 use selenocysteine as the active center to catalyze the reduction of H₂O₂ or organic hydroperoxides to water or corresponding alcohols, thereby reducing their toxicity and maintaining redox balance. In addition to reducing H₂O₂ and small molecule hydroperoxides, GPX4 is also capable of reducing complex lipid compounds. It is the only enzyme in the GPX family that directly reduces and destroys lipid hydroperoxides. The active sites of GPX5 and GPX7-GPX8 do not contain selenium cysteine (Secys), but instead, have cysteine residues (Cys) as their active sites. GPX5 is mainly expressed in epididymal tissue and plays a role in protecting sperm from oxidative stress. Both enzymes, GPX7 and GPX8, are located in the endoplasmic reticulum and are necessary enzymes involved in the oxidative folding of endoplasmic reticulum proteins, and GPX8 also plays an important role in the regulation of Ca²⁺ in the endoplasmic reticulum. With an in-depth understanding of the role of the GPX family members in health and disease development, redox balance has become the functional core of GPX family, in order to further clarify the expression and regulatory mechanism of each member in the redox process, we reviewed GPX family members separately.