Holistic Health Articles and Research Related to Herbal Medicines, Foods and Phytochemicals : Chinese Herbs

Tuesday, 12 November 2013

Chinese Herbs – Fu Ping (Herba Spirodelae)

Fu Ping is also known as spirodela or Duckweed. The acrid and cold herb has been used in TCM as diuretic, anti-pyretic agent and to enhance the cardiac function and treat edema and lack of urine, etc., as it promotes sweating, releases the Exterior, expels Wind, Calms itching, etc., by enhancing the functions of bladder and lung channels.

Ingredients

1. Orientin
2. Luteolin-7-monoglycoside
3. Vitexin
4. Malonylcyanidin-3-monoglucoside
5. β-carotene
6. Luteine
7. Epoxyluteine
8. Violaxanthin
9. Neoxanthin
10. Linolenic acid
11. Palmitic acid
12. Linoleic acid
13. Leucine
14. Lycopersene
15. Sitosterol
16. Phytol

17. Etc. Health Benefits
1. Microbial pathogenesis
In the the study of human pathogenic bacterial infection on a large scale by co-cultivation of axenic duckweed (Lemna minor) plants with pathogenic bacteria in 24-well polystyrene cell culture plate, found that duckweed can be used as a fast, inexpensive and reproducible model plant system for the study of host-pathogen interactions, could serve as an alternative choice for the study of some virulence factors, and could also potentially be used in large-scale screening for the discovery of antimicrobial chemicals, according to “Duckweed (Lemna minor) as a model plant system for the study of human microbial pathogenesis” by Zhang Y, Hu Y, Yang B, Ma F, Lu P, Li L, Wan C, Rayner S, Chen S.(1)
2. Anti-inflammatory activity
In the evaluation of the effects of S. polyrhiza ethanolic extract (SPEE) on the production of inflammatory mediators in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 cells and some potential underlying mechanisms, found that SPEE treatment significantly inhibited the LPS-induced production of NO, prostaglandin E(2), interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α and inhibited the expression of iNOS and COX-2 via attenuation of NF-κB p65 expression. The contents of the seven flavonoids in S. polyrhiza range from 0.25 to 8.77 mg/g, according to “Spirodela polyrhiza (L.) Sch. ethanolic extract inhibits LPS-induced inflammation in RAW264.7 cells” by Seo CS, Lee MY, Shin IS, Lee JA, Ha H, Shin HK.(2)
3. Adipogenesis inhibitory effect
In the investigation of the adipogenesis inhibitory effect on lipid accumulation, 3T3-L1 cells treated with fractions and isolated flavonoids of an ethanol extract of S. polyrhiza fractionated into three fractions of Spirodela polyrhiza, found that the butanol soluble fraction (SPB) exhibited potent antiadipogenesis activity and decreased C/EBPα and PPARγ protein expression level in 3T3-L1 cells without significant cytotoxicity. The flavonoids were isolated from SPB and their chemical structures were identified as chrysoeriol (1), apigenin (2), luteolin (3), vitexin (4), cosmosin (5), orientin (6) and luteolin-7-O-β-d-glucoside (7) by spectroscopic analysis. Studies on the adipogenesis and intracellular triglyceride accumulation inhibitory effect showed that compounds 4 and 6 had the highest activity and decreased C/EBPα and PPARγ protein expression level in 3T3-L1 cells, according to “Vitexin, orientin and other flavonoids from Spirodela polyrhiza inhibit adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cells” by Kim J, Lee I, Seo J, Jung M, Kim Y, Yim N, Bae K.(3)
4. Antioxidant ability
In the determination of the protective effect of total flavonoids from Spirodela polyrrhiza (L.) Schleid (STF) of traditional Chinese medicine, on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (ECV-304) damage induced by hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)), found that pretreatment with 10-50mug/mL STF resulted in a significant recovery. The survival rate of ECV-304 increased from 21.98% (only treated with 1mmol/L H(2)O(2)) to 64.74% (pretreated with 50microg/mL STF), which accompanied with the amounts of malondialdenhyde (MDA) decreasing from 1.6883nmol/L to 0.9628nmol/L. Taken together, STF protect ECV-304 cells against H(2)O(2) damage by enhancing the antioxidant ability and increasing NO production, according to “Protective effect of total flavonoids from Spirodela polyrrhiza (L.) Schleid on human umbilical vein endothelial cell damage induced by hydrogen peroxide” byWang B, Peng L, Zhu L, Ren P.(4)

5. Anticoagulant effects
In the investigation of a fibrinolytic protease purified from an Oriental medicinal herb, Spirodela polyrhiza (Choi, H. S., et al., Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem., 65, 781-786 (2001)).
found that the protein had anticoagulant activity when given intravenously and orally. The maximum delay in the activated partial thromboplastin time was at the dose of 0.52 and 4.2 mg/kg for intravenous and oral administration, respectively. This protein may be useful in clinical applications for anticoagulation, according to “Effects of anticoagulant from Spirodela polyrhiza in rats” by Cho HR, Choi HS.(5)

Side effects

1. Overdoses can cause stop the hearts during diastolic period, and constrict the blood vessels and can increase the blood pressure.

2. Do not use the herb in newborn, children or if you are pregnant or breast feeding without consulting with the related field specialist.

3. Not to use the herb in case of external deficiency with instant sweating.

4. Etc.