ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of Salvia miltiorrhiza (SM) on oxidative stress and microinflammatory state in patients undergoing continuous hemodialysis (CHD).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Thirty-six patients who had received CHD for over half a year were assigned into the routine CHD group (18 cases) and the treated group treated with routine CHD plus SM (18 cases). Meanwhile, 18 healthy adults were taken as the normal control. Indexes related with oxidative stress [malondialdehyde (MDA), advanced oxidative protein products (AOPP) and superoxide dismutase (SOD)) and microinflammation C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) were detected before and after 1, 2 and 3 months of treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The levels of AOPP, MDA, CRP, IL-6 and TNF-alpha in patients were higher and SOD was lower than those in the normal control at all the time points (P < 0.01). Compared with the baseline, the levels of AOPP and MDA in the routine CHD group significantly increased and SOD decreased after 3 months of treatment (P < 0.05), but changes of CRP, IL-6 and TNF-alpha showed no significance though there were somewhat increment (P > 0.05). The levels of AOPP and MDA were lower and SOD was higher after 1, 2 and 3 months of SM combined treatment, and CRP was lower after 3 months of treatment in the treated group than those of baselines and those at the corresponding time points in the routine CHD group (P < 0.01), but IL-6 and TNF-alpha reduced insignificantly (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Hemodialysis may aggravate the oxidative stress and microinflammation in patients, which could be obviously alleviated by SM.</p>