Anti-inflammatory activities and potential mechanisms of phenolic acids isolated from Salvia miltiorrhiza f. alba roots in THP-1 macrophages.[Pubmed: 29751125]

The roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza f. alba (Lamiaceae) (RSMA) are used as the Danshen, a traditional Chinese medicine, to treat the vascular diseases at local clinics, especially for the remedy of thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO) more than 100 years. Phenolic acids are one of the major effective constituents of RSMA, and some studies have linked phenolic acids with anti-inflammatory functions.

[Further promotion effect of variable temperature drying on effective components in roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza f. alba].[Pubmed: 29090547]

To study the effects of different variable temperature drying modes on active components of roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza f. alba, and provide basis for its industrialized drying process. In order to ensure the content of active components, variable temperature drying modes were designed: low temperature at 30 ℃ and high temperature at 60 ℃, low temperature at 30 ℃ and high temperature at 70 ℃, low temperature at 30 ℃ and high temperature at 80 ℃, low temperature at 40 ℃ and high temperature at 60 ℃, low temperature at 40 ℃ and high temperature at 70 ℃, low temperature at 40 ℃ and high temperature at 80 ℃ and air dry oven was used for variable temperature drying process. Then HPLC method was used to determine the changes of active components in roots of S. miltiorrhiza f. alba under different temperature modes; and SPSS 17.0 was used to analyze the data. The results showed that the samples, which were first dried at 40 ℃ for six hours and then dried at 80 ℃ for three hours, had the highest contents in dihydrotanshinone, cryptotanshinone, tanshinone Ⅰ and tanshinone ⅡA as compared with other kinds of drying methods, and the contents were 0.35, 2.76, 0.78, 4.47 mg•g⁻¹, respectively. Additionally, as compared with samples dried in the shade, the contents of dihydrotanshinone, cryptotanshinone and tanshinone Ⅰ were increased 2.9% (P>0.05), 45.3% (P<0.05) and 34.5% (P<0.05), respectively; however, the content of tanshinone ⅡA was decreased by 44.1% (P<0.05). The water-soluble active components (rosmarinic acid and salvianolic acid B) of roots of S. miltiorrhiza f. alba, had the highest contents when the samples were first dried at 30 ℃ for six hours and then 70 ℃ for three hours, and the contents were 3.83,55.44 mg•g⁻¹, increased by 62.3% (P<0.05) and 109.1% (P<0.05) respectively as compared with the samples dried in the shade. Variable temperature drying can significantly affect the contents of active components in roots of S. miltiorrhiza f. alba. As compared with the traditional process of shade-drying process, low temperature drying can significantly increase the content of water-soluble active components and also with significant promotion effect on the liposoluble components such as tanshinone ⅡA, cryptotanshinone and tanshinone Ⅰ. The variable temperature drying mode, can effectively shorten the process of drying and provide theoretical basis for industrial processing of roots of S. miltiorrhiza f. alba.

Influence of naturaldecay of fibrousroots on growth and content of active compositions of Salvia miltiorrhiza f. alba.[Pubmed: 26697676]

The change of yield and contents. of active compositions were studied while the fibrous roots were decayed naturally. HPLC method was used to detect the contents of active composition. The results show that fibrousroots could decrease the production of plant by 38.60% (20 g) and 30.99% (40 g), respectively. Treatment 1 could increase the contents of dihydrotanshinone and cryptotanshinone of Salvia miltiorrhiza f. alba by 26.08% and 22.64%, respectively. Compared with the comparison, treatment 2 decreased the contents of ihydrotanshinone, cryptotanshinone, tanshinone I and tanshinone II(A) of S. miltiorrhiza f. alba by 60.87%, 79.24%, 84.61% and 88.99%, respectively. Meanwhile, the total contents of the liposoluble constituents reduced by 86.27%. The different concentration of fibrousroots could increase the content of salvianolic acid B by 4.98% (20 g) and 23.64% (40 g), respectively. Meanwhile, the content of rosemary acid was increased by 4.98% (20 g) and 23.64% (40 g), respectively. The content of water-soluble constituents positively correlated to the mount of added fibrousroots, and the change was significantly. The result indicted that the decay of fibrousroots has a significant impact on the growth and the content of the active composition of S. miltiorrhiza f. alba under the condition of continuous cropping. Fibrousroots could decrease the content of biomass and liposoluble constituents significantly, which maybe one of the main factors to S. miltiorrhiza f. alba continuous cropping obstacle formation.

[Cloning and prokaryotic expression analysis of squalene synthase 2 (SQS2) from Salvia miltiorrhiza f. alba].[Pubmed: 26281542]

According to the designed specific primers of gene fragment based on the Salvia miltiorrhiza transcriptome data, a full-length cDNA sequence of SQS2 from S. miltiorrhiza f. alba was cloned by the method of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The SmSQS2 cDNA sequence was obtained, this sequence is named SmSQS2 and its GenBank registration number is KM244731. The full length of SmSQS2 cDNA was 1245 bp, encoding 414 amino acids including 5'UTR 115 bp and 3'UTR 237 bp. Sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that SmSQS2 had relative close relationship to the SQS2 of S. miltiorrhiza. The induction of E. coli [pET28-SQS2] in different temperature, induction time, IPTG concentrations and density of inducing host bacterium (A600) were performed, Shaking the culture at 30 degrees C until the A600 is approximately 0.6 and add IPTG to final concentration of 0.2 mmol x L(-1), and then the optimal expression of SmSQS2 recombinant protein were accumulated after the induction time of 20 h. The research provided important base for the study of sterol and terpene biosynthesis of SQS2 in S. miltiorrhiza f. alba.

[Biological and Phenological Properties of Salvia miltiorrhiza f. alba for Anti-continuous Cropping].[Pubmed: 26214863]

Morphological characteristics and phenological phase of Salvia miltiorrhiza f. alba for anti-continuous cropping was studied in the field.

[Effects of plant-derived smoke water on accumulation of biomass and active substance of Salvia miltiorrhiza f. alba].[Pubmed: 25276963]

To study the effect of plant-derived smoke water on the accumulation of biomass and active substance of Salvia miltiorrhiza f. alba, seedlings of S. miltiorrhiza were treated with different concentrations of smoke water (1:500, 1: 1 000, 1: 2 000). The fresh weight and dry weight of underground part, the number of split-root, maximum root diameter, average root diameter, average root length, the content of lipophilic components and water-soluble components were measured. Results showed that fresh weight and dry weight of underground part were respectively improved by 98.01%, 44.32% and 85.71%, 28.57% with significant difference by smoke water treatment with concentration of 1: 500 and 1: 1 000. Maximum root diameter and dry weight of underground part were respectively enhanced by 58.44% and 85.71% by smoke water with concentration of 1:500. The content of tanshinone I and tanshinone II(A) were improved by smoke water treatment, however there were no significantly difference on the content of cryptotanshinone and dihydrotan shinone. This study indicates that smoke water treatment could be used to improve the accumulation of biomass and active substance content of S. miltiorrhiza f. alba, which could provide new ideas for its green cultivating.

[Construction of plant expression vectors with PMI gene as selection marker and their utilization in transformation of Salvia miltiorrhiza f. alba].[Pubmed: 25011255]

To construct plant expression pCAMBIA1301-PMI by substituting PMI for hygromycin resistance gene in pCAMBIA1301 and obtain transgenic Salvia miltiorrhiza f. alba using PMI-mannose selection system.