Medicinal Plant Research 2025, Vol.15, No.6, 274-282 http://hortherbpublisher.com/index.php/mpr 275 networks, providing a theoretical guide for high-quality, sustainable, and industrially feasible cultivation of Danshen. 2 Major Secondary Metabolites of Salvia miltiorrhizaand Their Bioactivities 2.1 Tanshinones: types, chemical structures, and pharmacological effects Tanshinones include lipophilic diterpenoid quinones, the principal types being tanshinone I, tanshinone IIA, cryptotanshinone, and dihydrotanshinone I. It displays potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and cardiovascular protective activities. Among them, tanshinone IIA is commonly used in clinical treatment against cardiovascular diseases and serves as the principal marker for quality control in medicinal preparations (Jiang et al., 2019; Ren et al., 2019). Tanshinones have also demonstrated neuroprotection and immunomodulation activities (Bonaccini et al., 2015; Tang and Zhao, 2024). 2.2 Salvianolic acids: major components and biological activities Salvianolic acids are water-soluble phenolic acids, among which salvianolic acid A, salvianolic acid B, and rosmarinic acid are the most abundant. All these acids have shown strong activities related to antioxidant effects, anti-inflammatory, anti-atherosclerotic, and endothelium-protective properties, making them important in treating cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases (Ren et al., 2019; Tang and Zhao, 2024). Salvianolic acid B has been particularly recognized for its vascular protection and anti-thrombotic properties (Wei et al., 2023). 2.3 Other important secondary metabolites and their pharmacological potential Other secondary metabolites comprise polysaccharides and flavonoids. The polysaccharides in S. miltiorrhiza demonstrated antioxidative, anti-tumor, hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, immune-regulative, and cardioprotective effects, thus widening the therapeutic uses of the plant (Luo et al., 2023). Flavonoids, along with other phenolic acids, have contributed to the pharmacological range of the plant activity (Wei et al., 2023). Tanshinones mainly accumulate in the roots, especially the periderm, while salvianolic acids are present in both roots and leaves; some phenolic acids are more abundant in leaves. The content and composition of these metabolites vary with tissue type and developmental stage and are influenced by environmental and genetic factor (He et al., 2023; Li et al., 2025). 3 Effects of Light, Temperature, and Water Management on Secondary Metabolites in Salvia miltiorrhiza 3.1 Regulation of secondary metabolism by light intensity, quality, and photoperiod Light is one of the most important environmental signals that regulate the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. In S. miltiorrhiza, combined blue and red LED light-especially with a 3:7 blue:red ratio-conspicuously improves both plant growth and the accumulation of phenolic acids, such as rosmarinic acid and salvianolic acid B, by upregulating major biosynthetic genes (SmPAL1, Sm4CL1) (Zhang et al., 2020). On the contrary, however, blue light can decrease the tanshinone IIA constituent in hairy roots due to the downregulation of tanshinone biosynthetic genes (Chen et al., 2018). Different light qualities and intensities affect metabolic pathways due to photoreceptor-mediated signaling and circadian clock regulation; thus, light affects not just the quantity but also the composition of secondary metabolites in plants (Wu et al., 2025). 3.2 Effects of temperature (high and low) on metabolite accumulation Of the influential climatic factors, temperature is paramount in these herbs. Temperature may bring about optimal photosynthetic efficiency and levels of major constituents, such as salvianolic acid B and tanshinones, at about 20 °C (Seo et al., 2015). Low temperature and increased UV-B radiation are able to increase the levels of rosmarinic acid and salvianolic acid B, possibly by turning on the key transcription factors and metabolic gene clusters (Yu et al., 2025). High temperatures may cause an imbalance in metabolism, leading to poor overall yield and quality.
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