ABSTRACT
Salvia miltiorrhiza bunge (Dan shen in Chinese)is extracted from dried roots and rhizomes of Labiatae Salvia.Tan-shinones are the main lipid-soluble components in Salvia,each has specific pharmacological activity.This review focuses on the research progress of Tanshinones on cardiovascular diseases,an-ti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects, anti-tumor effect,hepatocyte protection and neuroprotective effects.Thera-peutic effects and mechanisms of Tanshinones on diverse disea-ses are summarized,pharmacokinetics and pharmaceutic evalua-tion were concluded.This review provides a global understand-ing about Tanshinones as a class of effective and promising can-didates for further studies,and lays a foundation for developing new Tanshinone-based agents according to the characteristics of Tanshinones.