Tinkturenpresse

Asarum sieboldii Miq. - syn.Asiasarum sieboldi (Miq.) F.Maekawa - Aristolochiaceae
汉城细辛 han cheng xi xin (chin.), ウスバサイシン usuba-saisin (jap.), Siebolds Haselwurz, Dünnblättrige Haselwurz

Herb, native to Korea, northeastern China, and Japan.

The dried rhizome and roots of Asiasarum sieboldii are known as Asiasarum root, Asiasari radix, Asari radix et rhizoma; used together with the very similar Asiasarum heterotropoides roots. The nearly cylindrical, unbranched rhizome is 1-10cm long and 2-4mm in diameter, with numerous thin long roots about 15cm long and 1mm in diameter and longitudinal wrinkles on the surface. They are grey-yellow to brown on the outside, sometimes with peduncles or buds at the upper end. The drug has a characteristic odor and an acrid taste.
Extracts showed various effects in animals: The drug had analgetic, antiallergic, antibacterial, stimulant, anaesthetic and sedative properties.
Folkloristic uses include common cold, cough and rheumatic complaints, headache and toothache.
Preparations. Internally as decoct, 1-3g for common cold, cough and headache. Externally as fluid extract for toothache. Ethanolic extracts (96%, 1/1) from whole plants are used as components in hair tonics.
[Hagers Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, Springer 2010]

The dried rhizomes contain volatile oil - var. sieboldii with 1.9-2.5% (methyl eugenol, safrole, eucarvon, some palmitic acid), var. cineoliferum 1.7-4% (methyl eugenol, safrole, cineole and some pinene compounds), var. seoulense with 3% (methyl eugenol, safrole, eucarvon, beta-pinenen and some palmitic acid).
[Hager; Fujita Y, Bot.Mag.Tokyo, 79, (1966), 783-790]

„The methanolic extract of the roots of Asiasarum sieboldi has been evaluated for anti-allergic effects on various experimental models in vitro and in vivo. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the methanolic extract resulted in isolation of suppressive compounds in the PCA test: methyleugenol (1), elemicin (2), gamma-asarone (3), (-)-asarinin (4), and (-)-sesamin (5). Furthermore, elemicin (2) and (2E,4E,8Z,10E)-N-isobutyl-2,4,8,10-dodecatetraenamide (6) were found to exhibit an inhibitory action on 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) from RBL-1 cells. 3',4'-Dimethoxycinnamaldehyde (7) and xanthoxylol (8) potently reduced the contractile response of guinea pig ileal strips to LTD4.“
[Studies on anti-allergic components in the roots of Asiasarum sieboldi., Hashimoto, K., Yanagisawa, T., Okui, Y., Ikeya, Y., Maruno, M., Fujita, T., Planta medica, 60(2), 1994, 124-127]

The amounts of aristolochic acid I and II (associated with a high incidence of uroepithelial tumorigenesis) in four groups of medicinal plants from the Aristolochiaceae and some related plants were determined by some researchers. Differnet amounts of them were found in Asarum heterotropoides var. mandshuricum, Asarum sieboldii (Usuba-saishin), Asarum heterotropoides (Keirin–saishin), Asarum sieboldii var. seoulense (Usuge-saishin) and commercial `Saishin' Asarum sect. Asiasarum sp. (Korean market), ranging from none to troubling 142 µg/g.
[Quantitative analysis of aristolochic acids, toxic compounds, contained in some medicinal plants., Hashimoto, K., Higuchi, M., Makino, B., Sakakibara, I., Kubo, M., Komatsu, Y., Okada, M., Journal of ethnopharmacology, 64(2), 1999, 185-189]
[Determination of aristolochic acid A in Radix Aristolociae and Herba Asari by RP-HPLC., Jiang, X., Wang, Z.M., You, L.S., Dai, L.P., Ding, G.Z., Zhongguo Zhong yao za zhi= Zhongguo zhongyao zazhi= China journal of Chinese materia medica, 29(5), 2004, 408-410]
http://www.ctca.de/index.php/en/archive/the-safety-of-asarum-an-evaluation-by-axel-wiebrecht

„…the methanol extract of AR exerts anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects by activating opioid receptor as well as by inhibiting bradykinin and histamine-mediated actions.“
[Mechanism of anti-nociceptive effects of Asarum sieboldii Miq. radix: potential role of bradykinin, histamine and opioid receptor-mediated pathways., Kim, S.J., Zhang, C.G., Lim, J.T., Journal of ethnopharmacology, 88(1), 2003, 5-9]

„ …the content of safrole in the dried herbal drugs tested ranged from 0.14–2.78 mg/ g whilst the content of methyleugenol ranged from 1.94–16.04 mg/g… following a 1-hour decoction, the amount of safrole was decreased by more than 92% resulting in the equivalent of no more than 0.20 mg/g safrole remaining in the aqueous extract. Similarly, the content of methyleugenol was decreased to the equivalent of 0.30–2.70 mg/g. Furthermore, both TCM formulae, after decoction, showed negligible amounts of safrole (maximum, the equivalent of 0.06 mg/ g), and only 1.38–2.71 mg/g of methyleugenol… The present study shows that a decoction procedure, similar to that traditionally used for Chinese herbal preparations, is able to effectively reduce the amount of safrole and methyleugenol effectively. Such a reduction in the content of safrole should be acceptable for therapeutic use.“
[Reduction of safrole and methyleugenol in Asari radix et rhizoma by decoction., Chen, C., Spriano, D., Lehmann, T., Meier, B., Forschende Komplementärmedizin/Research in Complementary Medicine, 16(3), 2009, 162-166]

pictures: http://www.asianflora.com/Aristolochiaceae/Asarum-sieboldii.htm