Recent studies on traditional Chinese medicinal plants

Abstract

This review will discuss several new drugs which were discovered and developed in recent years from traditional Chinese medicines by the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica. Huperzine A was isolated from Huperzia serrata, a plant used for the treatment of contusion, strain, haematuria, and swelling in Chinese folk medicine. Pharmacological studies have indicated that huperzine A has powerful and reversible anticholinesterase activity. Y-maze methods have shown that huperzine A improves learning and retrieval processes, and facilitates memory retention. Huperzine A is used to treat patients with myasthenia gravis and Alzheimer's disease in China. Sarmentosin, a cyanogenic glucoside was isolated from the whole plant of Sedum sarmentosium. This plant has long been used to treat hepatitis by folk medicine. Sarmentosin significantly lowers the SGPT level of patients suffering from chronic viral hepatitis, and shows a suppressive effect on cell-mediated immune responses in mice. The root of Aconitum is well known in traditional Chinese medicine. Many Aconitum alkaloids have been isolated. Most show potent bioactivities, but with severe toxicity. Recently, some alkaloids such as 3-acetylaconitine, lappaconitine, have shown significant anesthetic activity and exhibit a higher therapeutic index. Guan-fu base A was isolated from the tuber root of Aconitum coreanum. Guan-fu base A has antiarrhythmic action and is now in clinical trials. Drug Dev. Res. 39:147–157. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.