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| Latin: |
Rhizoma Ligustici Chuanxiong |
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| Origin: |
Chuanxiong is the rhizome of the perennial plant Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort., of the family Umbelliferae/Apiaceae. Native to east Asia, the plant is grown in China and Japan.
The perennial plant grows to about 1 m by 0.6 m. It is in flower from July to August. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by insects. The plant cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil.
In China, chuanxiong is mainly produced by means of artificial cultivation in Sichuan province. Reaped in May, earth and sand are removed from the rhizome before drying the rhizome in the sun and baking it until dry; then fibrous roots are removed and the rhizome is sliced or parched with wine for use. |
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| Properties: |
| Pungent in flavor, warm in nature, it is related to the liver, gall-bladder and pericardium channels. |
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| Functions: |
| Promotes circulation of the blood and qi and expels wind to alleviate pain. |
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| Applications: |
1. To treat pain due to blood stasis and qi stagnation:
Dispersing with its pungent taste and clearing with its warm nature, this herb can both promote blood circulation and activate the flow of qi, so it is an "herb for qi in the blood", which can "regulate menstruation in the lower part of the body and resolve stagnation in the middle part".
In modern times, chuanxiong or some compound preparations using it as their principal ingredient have produced quite good curative effects in the treatment of coronary angina pectoris. In addition, chuanxiong can be used in the department of traumatology for traumatic injuries and in the department of surgery for skin and external diseases.
a) Irregular menstruation, amenorrhea (abnormal absence or suppression of menses), dysmenorrhea (painful menstruation), postpartum abdominal pain due to blood stasis and qi stagnation, etc.:
As a major herb in the department of gynecology for the promotion of blood circulation and the regulation of menstruation, this is often used in combination with Chinese angelica, peach kernels, nutgrass flatsedge rhizome (Rhizoma Cyperi), etc.
b) Amenorrhea and dysmenorrhea due to blood stasis:
Chuanxiong is used in combination with herbaceous peony unpeeled root (Radix Paeoniae Rubra), peach kernels, etc., e.g., Xuefu Zhuyu Tang.
c) Amenorrhea and dysmenorrhea due to cold accumulation and blood stasis:
Chuanxiong is used in combination with scrapped cassia, Chinese angelica, etc., e.g., Wenjing Tang in the book 'Complete Effective Recipes for Women'.
d) Postpartum lochiostasis and abdominal pain due to blood stasis and qi stagnation:
Chuanxiong is used in combination with Chinese angelica, peach kernels, etc., e.g., Sheng Hua Tang.
e) Pain in the hypochondriac region due to stagnation of liver-qi:
Chuanxiong is often used in combination with Chinese thorowax root (Radix Bupleuri), herbaceous peony root (Radix Paeoniae Alba), nutgrass flatsedge rhizome (Rhizoma Cyperi), etc., e.g., Chaihu Shugan Yin.
f) Epigastric pain due to obstruction of heart vessels by stasis and stagnation of qi in the chest:
Chuanxiong is often used in combination with red-rooted salvia root (Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae), cassia twig, sandalwood, etc.
g) Pain with blood stasis and swelling due to traumatic injuries:
Chuanxiong is often used in combination with pseudo-ginseng root (Radix Notoginseng), olibanum, myrrh, etc., in order to promote blood circulation, subdue swelling and kill pain.
h) Suppurative skin and external diseases, in which ulceration is difficult due to deficiency of primordial qi:
Chuanxiong is used in combination with milk vetch root (Radix Astragali seu Hedysari), Chinese angelica and Chinese honeylocust spine (Spina Gleditsiae) in order to expel toxins and drain off pus completely, e.g., Tounong San in the book Orthodox Manual of External Diseases.
2. To treat headache, rheumatism and arthralgia:
Ascending and dispersing with its pungent taste and warm nature, chuanxiong can dispel wind and kill pain with its potency "going upward to the head and eyes". It can be combined with other herbs according to the case in the treatment of any type of headache due to pathogenic wind-cold, wind-heat, blood deficiency or blood stasis. Our ancestors had a common saying that "headache cannot be cured without chuanxiong".
For the treatment of rheumatism and arthralgia and pain and numbness of the limbs, it can bypass the channels to dispel wind, promote blood circulation and kill pain.
In modern times, chuanxiong injectio has been used clinically for intravenous dripping in the treatment of acute cerebrovascular diseases. Ligustrazine has been used for intravenous dripping in the treatment of post-traumatic brain syndromes. Chuanxiong has been combined with long pepper (Fructus Peperis Longi) to produce rutondine for the treatment of such ailments as trigeminal neuralgia, vascular headache, sciatica, peripheral neuritis, etc.
a) Headache due to pathogenic wind-cold, wind-heat, blood deficiency or blood stasis:
Chuanxiong can be used in combination with other herbs according to the case.
b) Rheumatism and arthralgia and pain and numbness of the limbs:
Chuanxiong is often used in combination with wind-expelling and channel-dredging herbs such as pubescent angelica root (Radix Angelicae Pubescentis), cassia twig, fangfeng (Radix Ledebouriellae), etc. |
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| Dosage and Administration: |
3-10 g., decoct for oral administration.
1-1.5 g., powder form. |
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| Cautions on Use: |
| Chuanxiong should be used with care by anyone with hyperactivity of fire due to yin deficiency or anyone suffering from hyperhidrosis or menorrhagia. |
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| Reference Materials: |
Shen Nong's Herbal Classic : "Headache due to invasion of pathogenic wind into the brain, arthralgia due to cold, clonic spasms of muscles, incised wounds and sterility due to amenorrhea."
The Compendium of Materia Medica : "Chuanxiong is an herb for qi in the blood, which is applicable to syndromes due to qi stagnation because it is so pungent in taste as to be dispersing. It is called maiju in the book 'Zuo's Historical Records of the Spring and Autumn Period (770 - 476 B.C.)' and used to treat abdominal ailments caused by freshwater fish. For the treatment of damp diarrhea, it is always used with two other ingredients added, producing quick effects. If any pain remains despite the clearing of dysentery with bloody stools, this shows loss of yin and stagnation of qi. If chuanxiong is added to the recipe as an adjuvant, the flow of qi will be activated and the circulation of blood will be regulated to relieve the ailment promptly."
Corpus of Discussions on Herbals : "Chuanxiong is an herb for qi in the blood, which can regulate menstruation in the lower part of the body and resolve stagnation in the middle part, with its potency going upward to the head and eyes. It has been used as a conductant for Chinese angelica, which is not only effective in treating blood troubles, but also excellent for the treatment of qi disorders. Pungent in taste, positive in nature and quite migratory in property without any stagnation or viscosity, it can dispel all types of pathogenic wind and regulate the flow of all types of qi." |
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| Toxic or Side Effects: |
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| Modern Researches: |
Chuanxiong contains essential oil (volatile oil), alkaloids (e.g., ligustrazine), phenolic substances (e.g., ferulic acid), lactone, vitamin A, folic acid, sterols, sucrose, fatty oil, etc.
For self protection, the outer skin (bark) of many plants contains essential oil, which in turn has elements that serve as an immediate chemical defense against herbivores and pathogens. How? There is an element called hydroxynitrile glucoside in essential oil. This element will release toxic hydrogen cyanide by endogenous plant glucosidase upon tissue disruption (see Anne Vinther Morant, Kirsten Jorgensen, Charlotte Jorgensen, Suzanne Michelle Paquette, Raquel Sanchez-Perez, Birger Lindberg Moller, and Soren Bak, "beta-Glucosidases as Detonators of Plant Chemical Defense," Phytochemistry Vol. 69, Issue 9 (June 2008), pp. 1,795-1,813).
Glucosidase is a catalyzing enzyme that improves healthy functions of our body. It is a lipase that decomposes fat; it can also check inflammation and improve memory (see Mikako Sakurai, Masayuki Sekiguchi, Ko Zushida, Kazuyuki Yamada, Satoshi Nagamine, Tomohiro Kabuta and Keiji Wada, "Reduction in memory in passive avoidance learning, exploratory behaviour and synaptic plasticity in mice with a spontaneous deletion in the ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1 gene," European Journal of Neuroscience Vol. 27, Issue 3 (February 2008), pp. 691-701).
Ligustrazine can inhibit the contraction of the vascular smooth muscle, dilate the coronary artery, increase the blood flow in the coronary artery, improve myocardial hypoxia and mesenteric microcirculation, reduce myocardial oxygen consumption, increase blood flow in the brain and limbs and reduce resistance of the peripheral blood vessels. It can reduce the surface activity of platelets and inhibit their aggregation to prevent thrombosis.
It can inhibit Shigella sonnei, Bacillus coli, Bacillus proteus, Bacillus pyocyaneus, typhoid bacillus, paratyphoid bacillus, etc.
It is soaked in alcohol for 2 weeks and then used in the treatment of gout.
The rhizome is anodyne (serving to assuage pain), antibacterial, antifungal, antirheumatic, antispasmodic, emmenagogue (promotes the menstrual discharge), diaphoretic (having the power to increase perspiration), hypotensive (causing diminished tension or pressure, as abnormally low blood pressure) and sedative. |
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