Wednesday 30 October 2013

Chinese Herbs– Zhu Ling (Sclerotium Polypori Umbellati)

Zhu Ling is also known as Umbrella Polypore Sclerotium. The sweet, bland and neutral herb has been used in TCM as diuretic, anti tumor agent and to treat edema,  difficulty in urination, painful urination, acute inflammation of the urethra, diarrhea, etc., as it eliminates Water, diuretic, etc., by enhancing the functions of kidney and bladder channels.

Ingredients
1. Ergone
2. Ergosterol
3. α – hydroxy-tetracosanoic acid
4. BHiotin
5. Polysacharin
6. Etc.

Health Benefits
1. Immunobiological function
β-Glucans (beta-glucans) are polysaccharides of D-glucose monomers, found abundantly in the yeast cell walls and medicinal mushrooms and are considered as valuable biological response modifiers for their ability to enhance the activity of immune cells, aid in wound healing and help prevent infections. according to the study of immunobiological function of a molecular mass of 2.27×10(3) kDa and contains >90% D-glucose as its monosaccharide constituent of Zhuling polysaccharide (ZPS) found that ZPS is a potent activator of B cells, macrophages and dendritic cells. Depletion of ZPS branches causes substantial reduction in not only its ability to activate B cells in vitro but also to elicit specific IgM production in vivo. Virtually all healthy human subjects possess high titer circulating antibodies against ZPS backbone, suggesting that ZPS epitope is shared by environmental antigens capable of eliciting adaptive humoral responses in the population(1).
2. Immunostimulating potency
In the stduy to explore the molecular mechanism of its immunostimulatory potency in immune responses of macrophages, using polysaccharides prepared from Polyporus umbellatus (PPS), Dr. Li X, and Dr. Xu W. at the Wenzhou Medical College,showed that PPS is able to strongly upregulate the functions of macrophages such as Nitric oxide (NO) production and cytokine expression. Compared with C3H/HeJ group, PPS significantly stimulated the proliferation of splenocytes and the production of TNF-α, IL-1β and NO of peritoneal macrophages from C3H/HeN mice. The function blocking antibodies to TLR-4, but not TLR-2 and CR3, markedly suppressed PPS-mediated TNF-α and IL-1β production. Flow cytometric and confocal laser-scanning microscopy analysis shown that fluorescence-labeled PPS (f-PPS) can bind specifically to the target cells, and the binding can blocked by unlabeled PPS and anti-TLR4, but not anti-TLR2 and CR3 monoclonal antibodies(2).
3. Anti-aldosteronic diuretic effects
According to the study Dr. Yuan D and the research team at the Shenyang Pharmaceutical University,  ergosta-4,6,8(14),22-tetraen-3-one (ergone) which is a maker component from the Polyporus umbellatus (PERS.) FRIES,possesses an anti-aldosteronic diuretic effect. Moreover, it was identified in the blood and bile of rats after its administration to the gastrointestinal tract. The above results demonstrate that it is an active component of Polyporus Sclerotium(3).

Side Effects
1. Do not use the herb in case of diseases with no symptoms of damp-heat
2. Etc.


 
Sources
(1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22717313
(2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20600759
(3) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15187435

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