Chinese Cornbind
Latin name: Radix Polygoni Multiflori
Chinese Name: HeShouWu
Traditional Uses
Actions: Nourishes yin, replenishes sperm and blood, tonifies liver kidneys
Applications: Deficiency of liver and kidney yin, prematurely white hair,
pain in the loins and knees, involuntary emission, functional bleeding,
intestinal wind, chronic malaria, carbuncle, scrofula
Pharmacology
(1) Purgative effect: It stimulates peristaltic movements
of the intestine to induce defecation. The active constituents
are the derivatives of anthraquinone.
(2) Cholesterol level-lowering effect: In experiments with
rabbits, it inhibits the increase of serum cholesterol and also decreases
the absorption of cholesterol by the alimentary canal. This action
is probably due to the ability of its constituents to combine with cholesterol
to inhibit increase in cholesterol.
(3) Effect on arteriosclerosis: It prevents the retention
of lipid in the serum or inhibits the deposition of lipoid on the inner
membrane of arteries, probably because of its lecithin content.
(4) Antiviral effect: It has been shown to act against viruses.
(5) Other effects: It is cardiotonic, especially to exhausted
hearts; it stimulates extirpated frog heart and also causes blood sugar
to first rise and then fall. The anthraquinon derivatives in the
herb possess a stimulatory action on the nervous system.
Reference: Hung-yen Hsu, Ph.D. and Associates: Oriental Materia
Medica A Concise Guide 1986, Keats Publishing |
