dan shen, Complementary and Alternative Healing University

Pharmaceutical name:	Radix Salvia miltiorrhizae
Latin botanical name: 學名	Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge.
Pron. in Japanese:	tanjin
Pron. in Korean:	tansam
Pron. in Cantonese:	tan sam
Common Name:	salvia root
Distribution:	Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin
Properties (characteristics)	bitter, slightly cold 味苦微寒。
Channels (meridians) entered: 歸經﹕	heart and liver 入心﹐肝二經。
Actions & Indications: 主治 ﹕	rid of clot blood, pain, invigorate blood, breakup blood stasis, for dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, palpable tumors, angina, heat bi, restlessness and insomnia, irritability, swollen spleen, pain in digestive system, 功能活瘀血, 止痛﹐經痛﹐無月經﹐可生新血,涼血,可觸知的腫瘤﹐心䍮痛﹐熱庳﹐煩燥不安﹐脾腫﹐消耗系統疼痛。
Medical Function:	antithrombotic antihypertonic (lowering blood pressure) antimicrobial antipyretic anti-inflammatory hepatoprotective sedative
Chemical ingredients:	1. (1) tanshinone I, cryptotanshinone^[1,2], hydroxytanshinone, methyltanshinonate^[3,4], methylene tanshiquinone^[5], przewatanshinquinone A),przewatanshinquinone B ^[6], miltirone^[7], dihydrotanshinone I ^[8], tanshinol A, tanshinol B, tanshinol C, 3-α-hydroxy tanshinone II^, nortanshinone ^[9], 1, 2, 15, 16-tetrahydrotanshiquinone ^[10]. isotanshinone, isocryptotanshinone ^[3,4], tanshiquinone A, B, C^[11]. (2) saloilenone^[12], danshenspiroketallactone, Tanshilactone^[14]. (3) salviol, tanshialdehyde. 2. danshensuan A, B, C, protocatechuic acid, protocatechuic aldehyde ^{[15, 16, 17]}. baicalin, β-sitosterol, ursolic acid, daucosterol, isoferulic acid, dihydroisotanshinone I^[18].
Dosage:	6 to 15 g
Samples of formulae:	tian wang bu xin dan
Modern Research:	Significantly increase in coronary blood flow due to reduction of vascular resistance.
Cautions:	Administration of tinctures of this herb can lead to severe itching, stomachache, or reduced appetite. While taking dan shen do not use milk or soy product because milk or soy product can lower the effective of dan shen.