Use with caution. Review interactions and contraindications below.
TCM Properties
- Taste
- bitter, sweet
- Temperature
- cold
- Channels
- Lung, Stomach, Liver
Traditional Use
Primary Actions
- Clears Heat and relieves toxicity — used for sore throat, pharyngitis, tonsillitis, and toxic heat patterns in the upper body
- Resolves phlegm and stops cough — used for persistent cough, wheezing, chest tightness, and hemoptysis from heat in the Lung
Secondary Actions
- Disperses stagnation and reduces pain — used for chest and epigastric pain from qi stagnation with heat
- Traditionally drunk as a folk tea for more than 1000 years in northern China for general health maintenance
Modern Research
Active Compounds
- Oridonin — primary ent-kaurane diterpenoid; broad anticancer, anti-inflammatory, hepatorenal protective, and cardioprotective activity; key active constituent
- Ponicidin — secondary diterpenoid; synergistic anticancer and antitumor properties
- Rubescensins — series of diterpenoids contributing to overall bioactivity profile
- Flavonoids — antioxidant secondary metabolites present alongside diterpenoids
Studied Effects
- Anticancer — oridonin induces apoptosis in gastric, lung, breast, colorectal, and pancreatic cancer cell lines via NF-κB and caspase pathway activation (PMID 34295243)
- Anti-inflammatory — oridonin suppresses NF-κB and NLRP3 inflammasome activation; reduces IL-6, TNF-α, and NO in macrophage models (PMID 34295243)
- Hepatorenal protective — ameliorates liver and kidney injury via oxidative stress reduction; cardioprotective against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (PMID 34295243)
- Derivatives development — structural modifications to improve oridonin's pharmaceutical properties while maintaining or enhancing anticancer efficacy (PMID 28425866)
PubMed References
Safety & Interactions
Contraindications
- Spleen-Stomach deficiency-cold — cold bitter nature may aggravate cold patterns in the Middle Jiao
Cautions
- Oridonin hepatotoxicity observed in animal models at high doses — monitor liver function with extended use (PMID 34295243)
- Potential CYP450 enzyme induction — theoretical drug-drug interactions with medications metabolized by CYP450 enzymes; formal interaction studies needed (PMID 34295243)
- Erythrocyte toxicity and developmental toxicity (zebrafish embryos) observed at high concentrations — dose-dependent toxicity requires clarification
- MSK page not found — drug interaction data not available from Memorial Sloan Kettering integrative medicine database