多柔比星是临床治疗中有效的抗肿瘤药，但其严重的心脏、肝脏毒性使其临床应用受到了极大限制。小檗碱是从黄连属植物分得的生物碱，具有多种生物活性和药理作用，对痢疾、真菌感染、糖尿病、肿瘤等都有治疗作用。研究发现小檗碱不仅可以通过诱导肿瘤细胞的凋亡来增强多柔比星的抗肿瘤活性；还可以通过改变多柔比星引起心肌病的相关指标来降低多柔比星引起的心肌细胞的损伤；另外，小檗碱对多柔比星引起的肝脏损伤也有一定的保护作用。综述了小檗碱对多柔比星的增效减毒作用及其机制的研究进展，这种发现提供了一种新颖的治疗方法，对多柔比星临床治疗的发展具有重要的意义。

Doxorubicin is frequently used in chemotherapy due to its potent anticancer efficacy. However, the clinical use of doxorubicin has been largely restricted because of its cumulative cardiotoxicity and hepatotoxicity. Berberine is a botanical alkaloid purified from Coptis Salisb. Increasing studies reveal that berberine possesses a broad spectrum of bioactivity and pharmacological actions, including antidiarrheal, antifungal, antidiabetic, and antitumor effects. Currently researches have shown that berberine could induce the apoptosis of tumor cells so as to enhance doxorubicin antitumor activity. Furthermore, berberine attenuates doxorubicin- induced cardiac myocyte apoptosis. In addition, berberine could decrease the hepatotoxicity caused by doxorubicin. The synergistic attenuation and its mechanism of berberine on doxorubicin are reported currently in this paper. These findings offer a novel therapeutic method, and have clinical significance of doxorubicin treatment.