Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, 100053 Beijing, China; Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 301617 Tianjin, China.
Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, 100053 Beijing, China.
Biomed Pharmacother. 2022 Jun;150:113005. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2022.113005. Epub 2022 Apr 25.
Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort (known as Chuanxiong in China, CX) is one of the most widely used and long-standing medicinal herbs in China. Tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) is an alkaloid and one of the active components of CX. Over the past few decades, TMP has been proven to possess several pharmacological properties. It has been used to treat a variety of diseases with excellent therapeutic effects. Here, the pharmacological characteristics and molecular mechanism of TMP in recent years are reviewed, with an emphasis on the signal-regulation mechanism of TMP. This review shows that TMP has many physiological functions, including anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-apoptosis properties; autophagy regulation; vasodilation; angiogenesis regulation; mitochondrial damage suppression; endothelial protection; reduction of proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells; and neuroprotection. At present, TMP is used in treating cardiovascular, nervous, and digestive system conditions, cancer, and other conditions and has achieved good curative effects. The therapeutic mechanism of TMP involves multiple targets, multiple pathways, and bidirectional regulation. TMP is, thus, a promising drug with great research potential.
川芎（在中国被称为川芎，CX）是中国应用最广泛、历史最悠久的药用植物之一。川芎嗪（TMP）是一种生物碱，也是 CX 的活性成分之一。在过去的几十年中，TMP 已被证明具有多种药理学特性。它已被用于治疗多种疾病，并具有极好的治疗效果。本文综述了近年来 TMP 的药理学特征和分子机制，重点介绍了 TMP 的信号调节机制。综述表明，TMP 具有许多生理功能，包括抗氧化、抗炎和抗细胞凋亡作用；自噬调节；血管舒张；血管生成调节；抑制线粒体损伤；内皮保护；减少血管平滑肌细胞的增殖和迁移；以及神经保护。目前，TMP 用于治疗心血管、神经和消化系统疾病、癌症等疾病，并取得了良好的疗效。TMP 的治疗机制涉及多个靶点、多条途径和双向调节。因此，TMP 是一种很有前途的药物，具有巨大的研究潜力。
