Therapeutic potential of tanshinones in ischaemia-reperfusion injury: Bioactive analogues, pharmacology and mechanisms.

Authors

Meijie Dai, Yimu Zhang, Chenze Zhu, Yuyan Yang, Sunliang Cui, Xiangnan Zhang

Published in

British journal of pharmacology. Aug 12, 2026. Epub Aug 12, 2026.

Abstract

Ischaemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury affects vital organs, including the heart, brain, liver and kidney, and represents a major pathological process associated with high morbidity and mortality. I/R injury initiates complex molecular and cellular cascades that drive cellular dysfunction, structural damage and both acute and chronic organ failure. Despite advances in supportive care, pharmacological intervention remains the primary strategy for protecting organs from I/R injury. Tanshinones, a group of lipophilic abietane diterpenoids derived from Salvia miltiorrhiza, display convergent, multi-target pharmacological activities that closely correspond to the core pathogenic mechanisms of I/R injury. Over the past two decades, tanshinones, particularly Tan IIA, Tan I and cryptotanshinone, have shown cardioprotective and neuroprotective effects. Increasing evidence further indicates that tanshinones also protect against I/R injury in other organs. This review synthesizes current findings on bioactive tanshinone analogues, their pharmacodynamic properties and underlying mechanisms of action and discusses biomarker-guided strategies to advance tanshinones as practical, pleiotropic therapeutic candidates for multi-organ I/R injury.

PMID:
42590920
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 13 Aug 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.