VALIDITY OF THE ORIENTAL MEDICINES .12. HYPOTENSIVE PRINCIPLES OF PHYTOLACCA ROOTS

The crude drug “shōriku”, the roots of Phytolacca esculenta Van Houtte (Phytolaccaceae) indigenous to east Asia, is used as a diuretic in Oriental medicine. Another Japanese species, P. japonica Makino, is used as a substitution. The other species, P. americana Linné, native to North America and naturalized in Japan, is not used as “shōriku”. Another crude drug “ikema-shōriku”, originated from Cynanchum caudatum Maximowicz (Asclepiadaceae), is sometimes confused with “shōriku”. Maeda (1) found that an extract of “shōriku” induced an increase of the excretion of urine and a decrease of blood pressure in rabbits and isolated potassium nitrate as the active principle. Although a number of chemical investigations have been carried out on “shōriku” and many compounds have been isolated (2-6), no other hypotensive principles have been recognized. © 1979, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.