TCM Properties

Traditional Use

Calms the Mind and relieves anxiety — used for irritability, insomnia, palpitations, and emotional restlessness from Heart-Liver imbalance
Spreads Liver Qi and relieves constraint — used for depression, chest tightness, liver qi stagnation with epigastric discomfort, and emotional melancholy

Harmonizes the Stomach and relieves Qi stagnation affecting digestion — for epigastric pain and bloating from liver overacting on Stomach
Invigorates blood and unblocks collaterals — mild blood-moving action for pain from qi-blood stagnation

Triterpenoid saponins (julibroside series, oleanolic acid-based) — primary bioactive fraction; cytotoxic, anxiolytic, and antidepressant activity
Total flavonoids (isoquercitrin, quercetin) — BDNF and TrkB upregulation; anti-neuroinflammatory
Lignans — including lignan glycosides that noncompetitively inhibit serotonin transporter (SERT)
Alkaloids — secondary neuroactive constituents
Phenolic glycosides — antioxidant and anti-inflammatory

Antidepressant — modulates monoaminergic neurotransmission; inhibits serotonin reuptake; upregulates BDNF/TrkB signaling in hippocampus; reduces HPA axis hyperactivation comparable to fluoxetine in animal models (PMID 37265761)
Anxiolytic — aqueous bark and flower extracts increase open-arm exploration in elevated plus-maze in rats; effects abolished by 5-HT1A antagonist pindolol, confirming serotonergic mechanism (PMID 15464830)
Neuroprotective — attenuates brain mitochondria oxidative damage; antiemetic effects in preclinical models
Most prescribed TCM herb for insomnia in Taiwan clinical practice; clinical formulae show comparable or superior efficacy to conventional antidepressants with fewer adverse effects (PMID 37265761)

Potential additive CNS sedation when combined with sedative medications — monitor for excessive drowsiness
MSK page not found — drug interaction data not available from Memorial Sloan Kettering integrative medicine database