Research progress on the application and mechanism of Danshen in the prevention and treatment of liver diseases
Salvia miltiorrhiza is a perennial herb in the family Lamiaceae, consisting of dried roots and rhizomes of Salvia miltiorrhiza Beg. It has the effects of promoting blood circulation and regulating meridians, cooling blood and eliminating carbuncles, removing blood stasis and relieving pain, and relieving restlessness and calming the mind. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that tanshinone IIA, tanshinone, polysaccharides, danshensu, and salvianolic acid in Danshen have various biological activities, including myocardial protection, hypoglycemic effects, and anti-tumor effects.

Liver disease, as a globally prevalent disease, poses a serious threat to human health. It mainly includes viral hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease, drug-induced liver injury, autoimmune liver disease, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. In recent years, Danshen has been widely used in the prevention and treatment of liver diseases, and scholars at home and abroad have conducted extensive and in-depth research on the hepatoprotective mechanism and clinical application of Danshen. This article provides a review of the application and hepatoprotective mechanism of Danshen in the prevention and treatment of liver diseases, aiming to provide theoretical guidance for the development and clinical application of Danshen hepatoprotective drugs.

Danshen has a wide range of complex pharmacological activities, including anti-tumor, antioxidant, anti peptic ulcer, anti-inflammatory, lipid-lowering, myocardial protection, and kidney protection. Among them, there are relatively more reports on the application of Danshen in the prevention and treatment of liver fibrosis and liver cancer. At present, there are few literature reports on the prevention and treatment of drug-induced liver injury with Danshen, and the mechanism research is not deep enough.

In recent years, research has shown that the pathological process of liver fibrosis is reversible. In the early stages of liver fibrosis, with proper treatment, liver fibrosis can be completely reversed, and its progression can be alleviated or even cured. Traditional Chinese medicine has the characteristics of multiple components and multiple stages of action. It can act on different stages of liver fibrosis formation and is significantly superior to Western medicine in anti liver fibrosis. Moreover, it has fewer toxic side effects and has become a consensus both domestically and internationally. At present, the research on the prevention and treatment of liver disease by Danshen mainly focuses on the prevention and treatment of liver cancer, and there is relatively little research on its anti liver fibrosis effect. Liver fibrosis is a necessary pathway for various chronic liver diseases, and further research on the anti liver fibrosis effect of Danshen is of great significance. Danshen has achieved good therapeutic effects in anti liver fibrosis, showing great advantages and promising prospects. The exact mechanism of its anti liver fibrosis effect will become the focus of future research.

Both current surgery and chemotherapy have certain drawbacks in the treatment of liver cancer. The advantages of traditional Chinese medicine in improving patients’ quality of life, controlling disease progression, and improving symptoms are becoming increasingly prominent. Danshen prevents and treats liver tumors by regulating signaling pathways, inhibiting tumor cell cycle, inducing tumor cell apoptosis, and inhibiting tumor cell invasion and migration, and exhibits certain anti-cancer activity. But currently, it mainly remains at the stage of in vitro research experiments or rodent models based on individual liver cancer cell lines, and most of the objects used are limited to in vitro cultured liver cells or mice. The anti-tumor effect on other liver cancer cell lines and other animal experiments is relatively small, and the mechanism of action is not deep enough. Therefore, it is of great significance to strengthen animal experimental research in exploring the anti liver cancer effects of Danshen, and to use modern methods such as network pharmacology and molecular biology to study its mechanism of action.