Salvia miltiorrhiza: A source for anti-Alzheimer's disease drugs

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder that affects millions of elderly people worldwide. However, no efficient therapeutic method for AD has yet been developed. Recently, Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (Lamiaceae), a well-known traditional Chinese medicine which is widely used for treating cardio-cerebrovascular, exerts multiple neuroprotective effects and is attracting increased attention for the treatment of AD.

The objective of this study is to discuss the neuroprotective effects and neurogenesis-inducing activities of S. miltiorrhiza components.

A detailed search using major electronic search engines (such as Pubmed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar) was undertaken with the search terms: Salvia miltiorrhiza, the components of S. miltiorrhiza such as salvianolic acid B, salvianolic acid A, danshensu, tanshinone I, tanshinone IIA, cryptotanshinone, dihydrotanshinone, and neuroprotection.

Salvia miltiorrhiza components exert multiple neuroprotective potentials relevant to AD, such as anti-amyloid-β, antioxidant, anti-apoptosis, acetylcholinesterase inhibition, and anti-inflammation. Moreover, S. miltiorrhiza promotes neurogenesis of neural progenitor cells/stem cells in vitro and in vivo.

The properties of S. miltiorrhiza indicate their therapeutic potential in AD via multiple mechanisms. In addition, S. miltiorrhiza provides lead compounds for developing new drugs against AD.