Browsing by Author "Huang, Hao"

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    Tanshinone IIA exhibits anticonvulsant activity in zebrafish and mouse seizure models
    (2013) Buenafe, Olivia Erin; Orellana Paucar, Adriana Monserrath; Maes, Jan; Huang, Hao; Ying, Xuhui; De Borggraeve, Wim; Crawford, Alexander D.; Luyten, Walter; Esguerra, Camila Vicencio; De Witte, Peter A.M.
    Danshen or Chinese red sage (Salvia miltiorrhiza, Bunge) is used by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioners to treat neurological, cardiovascular, and cerebrovas- cular disorders and is included in some TCM formulations to control epileptic seizures. In this study, acetonic crude extracts of danshen inhibited pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced seizure activity in zebrafish larvae. Subsequent zebrafish bioassay-guided fractio- nation of the extract resulted in the isolation of four major tanshinones, which suppressed PTZ-induced activity to varying degrees. One of the active tanshinones, tanshinone IIA, also reduced c-fos expression in the brains of PTZ-exposed zebrafish larvae. In rodent seizure models, tanshinone IIA showed anticonvulsive activity in the mouse 6-Hz psychomotor seizure test in a biphasic manner and modified seizure thresholds in a complex manner for the mouse i.v. PTZ seizure assay. Interestingly, tanshinone IIA is used as a prescription drug in China to address cerebral ischemia in patients. Here, we provide the first in vivo evidence demonstrating that tanshinone IIA has anticonvulsant properties as well.