SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1556368
Effects and Safety of Salvia Miltiorrhiza on the Improvement of Renal Function, Inflammatory Factors, and Vascular Endothelium in Patients with Diabetic Kidney Disease: a Meta-analysis and Systematic Review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
- 2China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
- 3Department of Nephrology and Endocrinology, Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
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Objective To elucidate the efficacy and safety of Radix et rhizoma salviae miltiorrhizae (SM) in the treatment of Diabetic Kidney Disease (DKD), and to provide a rationale and scientific reference for the use of SM preparations in the treatment of DKD. This study is the first systematic evaluation and Meta-analysis focusing exclusively on the use of SM as a single agent in the treatment of DKD.A comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Elsevier Science Direct, CNKI, Wanfang, and VIP databases, covering the timeframe from the inception of the journals to May 2025. The search was restricted to randomized controlled trials (RCTs) conducted within the past decade that investigated the use of SM/SM preparations as a treatment for DKD. The control group received conventional interventions, while the intervention group received SM/SM preparations. Endnote 20 and Excel were employed for literature management and data organization, and Revman 5.3 and Stata 18 software were used for the analyses.This study involved 21 RCTs with 1970 participants. The results demonstrated that SM preparations led to reductions in serum creatinine (Scr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER), 24-hour urinary total protein (24h-utp), C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and endothelin-1 (ET-1) levels among patients with DKD (P < 0.05). Moreover, these preparations elevated flow-mediated vasodilation(FDM),showcasing their clinical effectiveness over the control group (P < 0.05). Notably, the safety profile remained sound, with no significant differences in adverse event rates between the two groups (P > 0.05).These results indicate that SM preparations could considerably improve renal and vascular endothelial function while simultaneously decreasing harmful inflammatory markers in patients with DKD, which allow it serve as a safe and effective therapeutic option.
Keywords: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Salvia miltiorrhiza (SM), Salvia miltiorrhiza preparations, Diabetic kidney disease, Meta-analysis
Received: 06 Jan 2025; Accepted: 07 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zheng, Zhang, Wang, Zhang and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ning Zhang, Department of Nephrology and Endocrinology, Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100700, Beijing Municipality, China
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