Liu Hanze, Wang Changhong
Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, The MOE Key Laboratory for Standardization of Chinese Medicines, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Compound Chinese Medicines, Shanghai R&D Centre for Standardization of Chinese Medicines, 1200 Cailun Road, Shanghai, 201203, China.
Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, The MOE Key Laboratory for Standardization of Chinese Medicines, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Compound Chinese Medicines, Shanghai R&D Centre for Standardization of Chinese Medicines, 1200 Cailun Road, Shanghai, 201203, China.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2022 Jan 10;282:114642. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2021.114642. Epub 2021 Sep 17.
In essentially every quadrant of the globe, many species of genus Asarum are used as a common herbal medicine and appear in many formulas or Kampo. Crude drug from several medicinal plants of genus Asarum (MA) known as Asari Radix et Rhizoma (ARR) has been proven to have the functions of dispelling cold, relieving pain, and reducing phlegm according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory for thousands of years.
This article reviews the ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology and metabolic kinetics related research of genus Asarum to evaluate its ethnopharmacology use and future opportunities for research.
Information on relevant studies of the genus Asarum was gathered via the Internet using Baidu Scholar, Web of Science, Elsevier, ResearchGate, ACS, Pudmed and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). Additionally, information was also obtained from some local books, PhD, MS's dissertations and Pharmacopeias.
The genus Asarum has played an important role in herbal treatment. At present, more than 277 compounds have been isolated or identified from genus Asarum. Among them, volatile oil and lignans are the major active constituents and important chemotaxonomic markers. Modern pharmacological studies indicated that genus Asarum and its active compounds possess a wide range of pharmacological effects, especially analgesic, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, cardiovascular protection, antitussive, immunosuppressive, anti-tumor, and microbicidal activities.
Based on this review, therapeutic potential of genus Asarum has been demonstrated with the pharmacological effects on inflammation, CNS, respiratory regulation, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and microbial infection. The available literature showed that the major activities of the genus Asarum can be attributed to the active lignans and essential oils. Further in-depth studies on the aspects of the genus for mechanism of actions, metabolism, pharmacokinetics, toxicology, drug interactions, and clinical trials are still limited, thereby intensive research and assessments should be performed.
在全球几乎每个地区，细辛属的许多物种都被用作常见草药，并出现在许多配方或汉方中。根据中医理论，细辛属几种药用植物的 crude drug（原文如此，可能有误，推测为“生药”）被称为细辛（Asari Radix et Rhizoma，ARR），数千年来已被证明具有散寒、止痛和化痰的功效。
本文综述了细辛属的民族药理学、植物化学、药理学、毒理学和代谢动力学相关研究，以评估其民族药理学用途和未来的研究机会。
通过百度学术、科学网、爱思唯尔、ResearchGate、美国化学会、Pudmed（可能有误，推测为“PubMed”）和中国知网等互联网渠道收集有关细辛属的相关研究信息。此外，还从一些地方书籍、博士和硕士论文以及药典中获取信息。
细辛属在草药治疗中发挥了重要作用。目前，已从细辛属中分离或鉴定出277种以上的化合物。其中，挥发油和木脂素是主要活性成分和重要的化学分类学标记。现代药理学研究表明，细辛属及其活性化合物具有广泛的药理作用，尤其是镇痛、抗炎、神经保护、心血管保护、止咳、免疫抑制、抗肿瘤和杀菌活性。
基于本综述，细辛属的治疗潜力已通过其对炎症、中枢神经系统、呼吸调节、心血管疾病、癌症和微生物感染的药理作用得到证明。现有文献表明，细辛属的主要活性可归因于活性木脂素和精油。关于该属在作用机制、代谢、药代动力学、毒理学、药物相互作用和临床试验等方面的进一步深入研究仍然有限，因此应进行深入研究和评估。
