RECENT STUDIES ON TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINAL-PLANTS

This review will discuss several new drugs which were discovered and d eveloped in recent years from traditional Chinese medicines by the Sha nghai Institute of Materia Medica. Huperzine A was isolated from Huper zia serrata, a plant used for the treatment of contusion, strain, haem aturia, and swelling in Chinese folk medicine. Pharmacological studies have indicated that huperzine A has powerful and reversible anticholi nesterase activity. Y-maze methods have shown that huperzine A improve s learning and retrieval processes, and facilitates memory retention. Huperzine A is used to treat patients with myasthenia gravis and Alzhe imer's disease in China. Sarmentosin, a cyanogenic glucoside was isola ted from the whole plant of Sedum sarmentosium. Th is plant has long b een used to treat hepatitis by folk medicine. Sarmentosin significantl y lowers the SGPT level of patients suffering from chronic viral hepat itis, and shows a suppressive effect on cell-mediated immune responses in mice. The root of Aconitum is well known in traditional Chinese me dicine. Many Aconitum alkaloids have been isolated. Most show potent b ioactivities, but with severe toxicity. Recently, some alkaloids such as 3-acetylaconitine, appaconitine, have shown significant anesthetic activity and exhibit a higher therapeutic index. Guan-fu base A was is olated from the tuber root of Aconitum coreanum. Guan-fu base A has an tiarrhythmic action and is now in clinical trials. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss , Inc.