Tuesday 5 November 2013

Chinese Herbs – Lou Lu (Radix Stemmacanthae)

Lou Lu is also known as Uniflower Swiss centaury. The bitter and cold herb has been used in TCM to treat boils, carbuncles, acute mastitis, unable to discharge milk, etc., as it clears Heat, expels toxins, resolves abscesses and edema, promotes lactation, etc., by enhancing the stomach channel.

Ingredients
1. Erythro-centaurin
2.Crystalline
3. Non-nitrogenous
4. Glucoside
5. Erytaurin
6. Valeric acid
7. Etc.

Health Benefits
1. Anti cancers
In the study of Two new thiophenes, 5-{4-[4-(5-pent-1,3-diynylthiophen-2-yl)-but-3-ynyloxy]-but-1-ynyl}-2,2′-bithiophene (1) and 5-(4-hydroxybut-1-one)-2,2′-bithiophene (2), together with two known thiophenes 5-(4-hydroxybut-1-ynyl)-2,2′-bithiophene (3) and 5-(3,4-dihydroxybut-1-ynyl)-2,2′-bithiophene (4), isolated from the roots of Echinops latifolius Tausch, found that Compounds 1 and 2 showed significant inhibition activities against human cancer cell lines A375-S2 and HeLa with IC(50) values from 3.1 to 13.5 micromol/L, depending on their exposure to long wavelength ultraviolet light(1)
2. Hepatocyte necrosis and functional disorder
In the study to compare the protective effect with “Lou-lu” derived from the root of E. latifolius Tausch and “Pei-chai-hu” original Bupleurum chinense showed that E. grijisii and E. latifolius were more effective than B. chinense as reported previously and suggested that both E. grijisii and E. latifolius could correct the hepatocyte necrosis and functional disorder induced by the CCl4 treatment(2)
3. Etc.

Side effects
1. Do not use in cases of Qi deficiency or boils being flat or collapsed and in pregnancy
2. Do not use the Herb in newborn, children or if you are pregnant or
breast feeding with out approval first with the related field specialist

Sources
(1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17564953
(2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2270845

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