ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery
This article is part of the Research TopicPharmacological Mechanisms of Drugs Affecting Bone Formation and Bone Resorption Volume IIView all 23 articles
Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen) Promotes Achilles Tendon Repair: From Network Pharmacology Prediction to In Vivo Mechanistic Validation
Provisionally accepted
- Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou, China
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Objective: To investigate the key bioactive component of Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen) for repairing Achilles tendon injury and to elucidate its underlying mechanisms. Methods: A network pharmacology approach was employed to screen for common targets for Danshen in Achilles tendon repair, identifying Tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA) as the key bioactive component. Its targets were then subjected to Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) and KEGG pathway analyses. Subsequently, a rat model of Achilles tendon injury was established. After a 4-week intervention with Tan IIA, its reparative effects were comprehensively evaluated using histological, biomechanical, immunohistochemical (IHC), and ELISA methods. Results: Network pharmacology predicted that Tan IIA acts through core targets such as AKT1 and EGFR to regulate pathways including PI3K-Akt and MAPK. In vivo experiments confirmed that, compared to the model group, Tan IIA significantly improved tissue structure (histological score, P < 0.001) and enhanced the ultimate tensile load (P < 0.01). It also upregulated Collagen Type I (COL Ⅰ) expression (P < 0.05) while downregulating Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A (VEGFA) expression (P < 0.01), and effectively modulated serum inflammation by decreasing IL-6 (P < 0.01) while increasing IL-10 and TGF-β (P < 0.05). This is a provisional file, not the final typeset article Conclusion: Tan IIA is the key bioactive component of Salvia miltiorrhiza for repairing Achilles tendon injury. It effectively promotes the structural and functional healing of the tendon by synergistically regulating key processes such as inflammation, matrix remodeling, and angiogenesis.
Keywords: Salvia miltiorrhiza, tanshinone IIA, Network Pharmacology, Achilles tendon repair, regenerative
Received: 27 Jul 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Xie, Yang, Li, Qin, Luo, Jia, Li, Wang and Zhu. 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:
Huiguo Wang, wanghuiguo163@163.com
Lin Zhu, 11251@gzsport.edu.cn
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