Dansheng, also known by its botanical name Salvia miltiorrhiza, belongs to the Labiatae family. The Dansheng herb is indigenous to the mountainous southern and central parts of China. Outwardly, the root is red. Internally, it is purplish when fresh. It is commonly sold in short, shriveled pieces of bright, brick-red color.
The Dansheng root is one of the traditional remedies for the five elements which are thought to correspond to five specific colors: yellow, white, black, purple, and red, which in turn are thought to correlate with the five principal visceral organs--spleen, lungs, kidneys, liver, and heart. Dansheng particularly belongs to the heart, and its red color traditionally suggests the blood and the circulation system.
Dansheng has been recommended for all blood difficulties including circulation, hemorrhages, menstrual disorders, and many heart disorders. In the thousands of years following its first appearance in old Chinese pharmacopoeia, the herb became one of the most significant remedies in Chinese folk medicine.
The chemical constituents of Dansheng can be divided into two categories: water-soluble and fat soluble. Due to limitations in chemical techniques, the herbal extract products manufactured up until recent years were confined primarily to fat-soluble compounds such as Tanshenone and its diperpenoid derivatives. These fat-soluble compounds were proven, to a limited degree, to be beneficial in treating physiological activities.
In 1980, Chen et al. began investigating some water-extracted components: Protocatechualdehydes, Danshensu (3',4 phenyllatic Acid), and the Salvianolic Acids A and B. These preliminary water-soluble chemicals were found to increase animal endurance capacity under hypoxia conditions.
There have been many articles published about the beneficial affects of Dansheng. Some of these include:
Nishioka I. et al., Magnesium and Amonium-Potassium Lithospermates B, the Active Principles Having a Uremia-Preventive Effect from Salvia miltiorrhiza, Chem. Pharm. Bulletin 37(2) 340-344(1989);
Yokozawa T. et al., Renal Response to Magnesium Lithospermate B in Rats with Adenine-induced Renal Failure, Phytotherany Research, Vol. 7. 235-239(1993);
Chen C. et al., Chemical Investigation on water soluble components of Salvia miltiorrhiza, Phytotherapy Research, Vol. 16, No. 9:536-538 (1981); and,
Li L-N et al., Salvianolic Acid A, a New Depside from Roots of Slvia miltiorrhiza, Planta Medica, 227-228 (1994).