Danshen, the dried root of Salvia miltiorrhiza (Lamiaceae), is one of the most popular traditional herbal medicines commonly used in China. Recently, danshen has been used as a health-promoting functional tea to prevent diseases by strengthening the human immunity in China. To search for secondary metabolites with immune-modulating activity, a phytochemical investigation was carried out on the roots of S. miltiorrhiza, which led to the isolation of 6 new diterpenoids (1-4, 16, and 20) along with 20 known diterpenoids. The structures and absolute configurations of these new compounds were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis, calculated optical rotation, and calculated electronic circular dichroism spectra. Among these isolates, compounds 3, 17, 19, and 23 promoted the proliferation of HMy2.CIR, exhibiting a protective effect on lymphocytes at the concentration from 2.50 to 40 μM, whereas compounds 2, 7, 8, 10, 14, 18, 22, and 25 inhibited the cell proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner.
Keywords: Salvia miltiorrhiza; diterpenoids; human B lymphoblastoid cells; immune-modulating activity.