TCM Properties
- Taste
- sweet, bitter
- Temperature
- neutral
- Channels
- Liver, Spleen, Kidney
Traditional Use
Primary Actions
- Soothes Liver Qi and relieves stagnation — used for liver constraint, chest tightness, irritability, and hypochondriac pain from Liver Qi stagnation
- Dissipates masses and resolves phlegm nodules — used for abdominal masses, nodules, cysts, and accumulations from phlegm-qi stagnation
Secondary Actions
- Activates blood circulation and relieves pain — addresses pain from blood stasis combined with Qi stagnation
- Promotes urination and treats Lin syndrome — for urinary difficulty and heat in the Lower Jiao
- Kills intestinal parasites — secondary anthelmintic action
Modern Research
Active Compounds
- Hederagenin — primary triterpenoid aglycone; constitutes ~90% of the active extract; serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine reuptake inhibitor
- Triterpenoid saponins — 85 distinct types identified including akebonoic acid and arjunolic acid glycosides; anti-inflammatory and antitumor
- Chlorogenic acids — 9 mono and di-forms; antioxidant and anti-inflammatory
- Oleanolic acid — anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, antitumor triterpenoid
Studied Effects
- Antidepressant — hederagenin-rich extract inhibits serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine reuptake transporters in dose-dependent manner; increases extracellular monoamines in rat frontal cortex (PMID 22005599)
- Anti-inflammatory and analgesic — saponin and sapogenin fractions demonstrate antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects in preclinical models
- Comprehensive phytochemical profiling — 94 compounds identified (85 triterpenoid saponins, 9 chlorogenic acids); 50 newly identified constituents (PMID 31074056)
- Antitumor — triterpenoid saponin fractions show cytotoxic activity against cancer cell lines in vitro
PubMed References
Safety & Interactions
Cautions
- MSK page not found — drug interaction data not available from Memorial Sloan Kettering integrative medicine database