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

Sunday, 10 November 2013

Chinese Herbs– Ge Jie (Gekko gecko Linnaeus)

Ge Jie is also known as Gecko. The salty,neitral and slightly toxic herb has been used in TCM to treat wheezing, coughing or coughing with blood in sputum, impotence, etc., as it tonifies kidneys and the lungs, calms dyspnea and coughing, benefits the Essence and the Blood, etc., by enhancing the functions of lung and kidney channels.

Ingredients

1. Carnosine
2. Choline
3. Carnitine
4. Guanine

5. Metyl thiophosphorsäureester
6. Glutathion
7. Thyroxine
8. Iodotyrosine

9. Etc.

Health Benefits
1. Anti tumor effects
In the investigation of the anti-tumor effect of Chinese medicine Gecko on human esophageal carcinoma cell lines and xenografted sarcoma 180 in Kunming mice and its mechanism, found that The OD value in each group treated with Gecko after 72 h was reduced significantly in EC9706 and in EC1. The tumor weight in each group of Gecko was decreased significantly (1.087+/-0.249 vs 2.167+/-0.592; 1.021+/-0.288 vs 2.167+/-0.592; 1.234+/-0.331 vs 2.167+/-0.592; P<0.01, respectively). However, the thymus index and Spleen index of mice in Gecko groups had no significant difference compared with the NS group. The immunoreactive score of VEGF and bFGF protein expression of each Gecko group by immunohistochemical staining were lowered significantly. The apoptosis index (AI) of each group was increased progressively with increase of dose of Gecko by TUNEL, according to “Antitumor effect and mechanism of Gecko on human esophageal carcinoma cell lines in vitro and xenografted sarcoma 180 in Kunming mice” by Liu F, Wang JG, Wang SY, Li Y, Wu YP, Xi SM.(1) 2. CNS regeneration
In the clarification of the regulatory function of the kinase on the CNS regeneration, we characterized gecko GSK-3β and determined the effects of GSK-3β inactivation on the neuronal and glial cell lines, as well as on the gecko tail (including spinal cord) regeneration, found that Gecko GSK-3β shares 91.7%-96.7% identity with those of other vertebrates, and presented higher expression abundance in brain and spinal cord. The kinase strongly colocalized with the oligodendrocytes while less colocalized with neurons in the spinal cord. Phosphorylated GSK-3β (pGSK-3β) levels decreased gradually during the normally regenerating spinal cord ranging from L13 to the 6(th) caudal vertebra and suggested that species specific regulation of GSK-3β was indispensable for the complete regeneration of CNS, according to “Inhibition of gecko GSK-3β promotes elongation of neurites and oligodendrocyte processes but decreases the proliferation of blastemal cells” by Wang Y, Gu Q, Dong Y, Zhou W, Song H, Liu Y, Liu M, Yuan Y, Ding F, Gu X, Wang Y.(2)
3. Esophageal cancer
In the investigation of the proliferation inhibition effects of Gecko alcohol extract (GAE) on human esophageal squamous carcinoma cell line EC-109 and its mechanism.
found that GAE had the inhibition effects on the proliferation of esophageal carcinoma cell EC-109. The apoptosis rate of EC-109 cell treated with GAE(3.0 mg/mL, 4.0 mg/mL) for 48h was 20.63% and 39.73%, respectively. Compared with control group,the expression of Fas and Caspase-3 was significantly up-regulated in GAE treated group, according to “[Inhibitory effects of Gecko alcohol extract on human esophageal squamous carcinoma cell line EC-109 proliferation and associated mechanism].[Article in Chinese]” by Song JY, Wang XL, Wang JG, Xi SM, Liu L, Li RF, Yu K.(3)
4. Etc.