Lithospermi radix, Zi Cao (root)

Lithospermi radix

Ethnopharmacology

Plant of the Chinese pharmacopoeia traditionally used for the healing of wounds as well as burns, eczema, cancer, viral infections, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antithrombotic, antimicrobial effects.

Components

Shikonin, naphthoquinone,

Studies

More than a hundred studies since the 1980s

-inflammatory allergic diseases (1)

-tumor necrosis factor (2)

-acceleration of healing (3)

-psoriasis (4)

1. Kim EK, Kim EY, Moon PD, Um JY, Kim HM, Lee HS, Sohn Y, Park SK, Jung HS, Sohn NW. Lithospermi radix extract inhibits histamine release and production of inflammatory cytokine in mast cells . Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2007 Dec;71(12):2886-92. doi:10.1271/bbb.70208. Epub 2007 Dec 7. PMID: 18071264.

2.Chung HS, Kang M, Cho C, Park S, Kim H, Yoon YS, Kang J, Shin MK, Hong MC, Bae H. Inhibition of lipopolysaccharide and interferon-gamma-induced expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and tumor necrosis factor-alpha by Lithospermi radix in mouse peritoneal macrophages . J Ethnopharmacol. 2005 Dec 1;102(3):412-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2005.06.028. Epub 2005 Jul 28. PMID: 16054790.

3. Hsiao CY, Tsai TH, Chak KF. The molecular basis of wound healing processes induced by lithospermi radix: a proteomics and biochemical analysis. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2012;2012:508972. doi:10.1155/2012/508972. Epub 2012 Sep 17. PMID: 23024692; PMCID: PMC3457683.

4. Tan YQ, Liu JL, Bai YP, Zhang LX. Literature research of Chinese medicine recipes for the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris with blood-heat syndrome type. Chin J Integr Med. 2011 Feb;17(2):150-3. doi:10.1007/s11655-011-0645-y. Epub 2011 Mar 9. PMID: 21390583.