Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine ›› 2026, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (5): 1061-1071.DOI: 10.19852/j.cnki.jtcm.2026.05.001

• Original Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Sweated and non-sweated Danshen (Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae) promoting macrophage M2 polarization through Notch1/Jagged1/ Hes1 pathway: a comparative research

SHAN Xiaoxiao1, LI Ruoqing1, HONG Bangzhen1, GU Liangliang2, CHENG Nuo2, WANG Guokai2, YU Nianjun3, WU Peiyun3, PENG Daiyin3, ZHANG Caiyun2, CHEN Weidong1(), WANG Lei1()   

  1. 1 School of Pharmacy, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine; Anhui Genuine Chinese Medicinal Materials Quality Improvement Collaborative Innovation Center; Institute of Pharmacokinetics, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine; Key Laboratory of Xin’an Medicine, Ministry of Education, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, China
    2 School of Pharmacy, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine; Anhui Genuine Chinese Medicinal Materials Quality Improvement Collaborative Innovation Center; Institute of Pharmacokinetics, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, China
    3 School of Pharmacy, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine; Anhui Genuine Chinese Medicinal Materials Quality Improvement Collaborative Innovation Center, Hefei 230012, China
  • Received:2024-11-21 Accepted:2025-06-11 Online:2026-10-15 Published:2026-10-09
  • Contact: CHEN Weidong, School of Pharmacy, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, China. wdchen@ahtcm.edu.cn,Telephone: +86-15156091053; WANG Lei, School of Pharmacy, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, China. wanglei@ahtcm.edu.cn,Telephone: +86-15805513357
  • About author:

    SHAN Xiaoxiao and LI Ruoqing are co-first authors and contributed equally to this work

  • Supported by:
    The present study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China: Biomimetic Construction and Performance Evaluation of Sodium Alginat-Zein/Nanohydroxyapatite Composite Scaffolds(51303006);Anhui Province Key Research and Development Program Project: Research on Key Technologies for Quality Improvement and Quality Evaluation of Anhui Genuine Medicinal Material “Gucheng Danshen”; Research on Key Technologies and Industrialization of the Classical Famous Prescription “Kaixin San”(1704a0802145);Anhui Province Key Research and Development Program Project: Research on Key Technologies for Quality Improvement and Quality Evaluation of Anhui Genuine Medicinal Material “Gucheng Danshen”; Research on Key Technologies and Industrialization of the Classical Famous Prescription “Kaixin San”(202203a07020031);University Natural Science Research Project of Anhui Province: Mechanistic Study on the “Guiding Drugs Upward” Effect of Acorus Tatarinowii in the Anti-Alzheimer’s Disease Classical Famous Prescription Kaixin San through Transporter Regulation and Competitive Protein Binding; Mechanistic Study of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Principle of “Removing Blood Stasis and Eliminating Masses”: Salvia Miltiorrhiza Suppresses Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Lung Metastasis of Triple-negative Breast Cancer Through C-C Motif Chemokine Ligand 2/Colony Stimulating Factor 3-mediated Macrophage Polarization; Construction of a Borneol-metformin Dual-probe Fluorescent Nanoemulsion and Investigation of the Mechanisms Underlying Their Mutual Permeation Enhancement and Brain-targeted Drug Delivery(2408085MH229);University Natural Science Research Project of Anhui Province: Mechanistic Study on the “Guiding Drugs Upward” Effect of Acorus Tatarinowii in the Anti-Alzheimer’s Disease Classical Famous Prescription Kaixin San through Transporter Regulation and Competitive Protein Binding; Mechanistic Study of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Principle of “Removing Blood Stasis and Eliminating Masses”: Salvia Miltiorrhiza Suppresses Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Lung Metastasis of Triple-negative Breast Cancer Through C-C Motif Chemokine Ligand 2/Colony Stimulating Factor 3-mediated Macrophage Polarization; Construction of a Borneol-metformin Dual-probe Fluorescent Nanoemulsion and Investigation of the Mechanisms Underlying Their Mutual Permeation Enhancement and Brain-targeted Drug Delivery(KJ2021A0586);University Natural Science Research Project of Anhui Province: Mechanistic Study on the “Guiding Drugs Upward” Effect of Acorus Tatarinowii in the Anti-Alzheimer’s Disease Classical Famous Prescription Kaixin San through Transporter Regulation and Competitive Protein Binding; Mechanistic Study of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Principle of “Removing Blood Stasis and Eliminating Masses”: Salvia Miltiorrhiza Suppresses Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Lung Metastasis of Triple-negative Breast Cancer Through C-C Motif Chemokine Ligand 2/Colony Stimulating Factor 3-mediated Macrophage Polarization; Construction of a Borneol-metformin Dual-probe Fluorescent Nanoemulsion and Investigation of the Mechanisms Underlying Their Mutual Permeation Enhancement and Brain-targeted Drug Delivery(KJ2021ZD0065);Young Talents Promotion Project of China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine(CACM-2022-QNRC2-B03)

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of sweated and non-sweated Danshen (Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae) extracts (SNSE) on macrophage M2 polarization.

METHODS: After assessing the cytotoxicity of SNSE on RAW264.7 cells, the flow cytometry was applied to evaluate the proportion of CD86 and CD206. Meanwhile, real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used to determine the levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10), interleukin-12 (IL-12), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in RAW264.7 cells. Further, the regulation of SNSE in Notch1/Jagged1/Hes1 pathway were assessed by the Western blot.

RESULTS: The results of flow cytometry showed that the cells were polarized into M2 type in varying degrees after the intervention of SNSE. Additionally, the results of RT-qPCR and ELISA assays suggested that all the SNSE induced lower levels of IL-6, IL-12, and TNF-α, and higher expression of IL-10. The results of Western blot revealed that the SNSE inhabited the protein expression of Notch1/Jagged1/Hes1 pathway. In the comparison of the above indexes, the effect of tanshinones extracts of sweated Danshen (Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae) was more significant than that of non-sweated Danshen (Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae). However, there was no significant difference between their phenolic acid extracts.

CONCLUSIONS: As a result, both sweated and non-sweated Danshen (Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae) extracts can promote anti-inflammatory macrophage M2 polarization viaregulating the Notch1/Jagged1/Hes1 signaling pathway. Further, the comparison results between the sweated and non-sweated Danshen (Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae) extracts indicate that sweating can improve the efficacy of tanshinones extracts on the macrophages polarization.

Key words: Danshen (Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae), macrophages, sweating, receptor, Notch1, Jagged-1 protein, M2 polarization

Cite this article

SHAN Xiaoxiao, LI Ruoqing, HONG Bangzhen, GU Liangliang, CHENG Nuo, WANG Guokai, YU Nianjun, WU Peiyun, PENG Daiyin, ZHANG Caiyun, CHEN Weidong, WANG Lei. Sweated and non-sweated Danshen (Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae) promoting macrophage M2 polarization through Notch1/Jagged1/ Hes1 pathway: a comparative research[J]. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2026, 46(5): 1061-1071.