Studies on Biological Activities of the Roots of Pseudostellaria heterophylla

태자삼(太子蔘)의 생리활성(生理活性)에 관한 연구(硏究)

The root of Pseudostellaria heterophylla Pax et Hoffm. (Caryophyllaceae) is a herbal medicine called Taejasam(太子蔘) and used as a good tonic in China that strengthens the functions of the lung and the stomach like Ginseng in Korea. It has been known to have the antitussive activity for tuberculosis, appetizing effect and antifatigue activity, and so on. Especially it has been known to generate body fluids for the severe thirst and the shortage of water in body after a febrile disease for a long time. Recently some components of cyclic peptides, pseudostellarins A,B,C,D,E,F,G, that inhibit the activity of tyrosinase, were separated from this root. In this report several biological activities including acute toxicity, analgesic activity, antifatigue activity, bile juice increasing activity, hepatoprotective activity and antiinflammatory activity were investigated. These results showed as such; $LD_{50}$ of methanol extracts was above 10,000 mg/kg. The analgesic effect was revealed in the writhing test using rats. The BuOH fractions showed a prominent antifatigue effect against immobilized stress, significant hepatoprotective activities against $CCl_4$ intoxication and inhibitory effect on carrageenin-induced edema in rat's paw.