Contraindicated / High risk. Use only under practitioner supervision.
TCM Properties
- Taste
- bitter
- Temperature
- cold
- Channels
- Liver, Lung
Traditional Use
Primary Actions
- Clears heat and relieves toxicity — traditionally used for conjunctivitis, sinusitis, dermatitis, skin infections, and toxic swellings
- Cools the blood and reduces swelling — used for eczema, furuncles, and inflammatory skin conditions from blood heat
Secondary Actions
- Clears Lung heat — used for cough and sore throat from heat toxicity
- Anti-infective against bacterial dysentery and intestinal inflammation
Modern Research
Active Compounds
- Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (senecionine, seneciphylline, senkirkine) — HEPATOTOXIC AND TUMORIGENIC in animal studies; known liver carcinogens
- Senecionine N-oxide and seneciphylline N-oxide — PA N-oxides converted to tumorigenic forms via metabolic reduction
- Flavonoids (rutin, quercetin) — antioxidant and anti-inflammatory
- Caffeic acid derivatives — phenolic antioxidants
Studied Effects
- HEPATOTOXICITY — aqueous extract contains nine toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids at estimated total 10.82 μg/g, significantly exceeding the ≥1 μg/g safety threshold recommended by Belgium and Germany; challenges clinical use (PMID 18220326)
- Carcinogenicity risk — senecionine, seneciphylline, and senkirkine are known tumor inducers in experimental animals; their presence in S. scandens raises cancer risk concerns (PMID 18220326)
- Safety dilemma — no significant hepatotoxic effects at standard human-equivalent doses in 14-day rat studies; but single 8-fold overdose produced classic PA-induced hepatotoxicity (PMID 19296428)
- PA quantification — HPLC-MS methods established for quality control of Senecio scandens preparations from raw herb to finished product (PMID 32662582)
PubMed References
Safety & Interactions
Contraindications
- Pregnancy — pyrrolizidine alkaloids are teratogenic and hepatotoxic; absolute contraindication
- Hepatic disease — existing liver dysfunction dramatically increases PA toxicity risk
- Long-term use — cumulative PA exposure leads to progressive veno-occlusive liver disease
- Children — developing liver cannot adequately detoxify pyrrolizidine alkaloids
Cautions
- PYRROLIZIDINE ALKALOID BURDEN: total toxic PA content ~10.82 μg/g herb, significantly above EU safety threshold of ≥1 μg/g (Belgium, Germany) — use only under strict practitioner supervision with dose and duration limits (PMID 18220326)
- Known liver carcinogens present: senecionine, seneciphylline, and senkirkine are tumorigenic in animal studies
- Exported TCM proprietary products (e.g., for sinusitis) containing Qianliguang have been flagged internationally for PA content
- MSK page not found — drug interaction data not available from Memorial Sloan Kettering integrative medicine database