Juice of fresh yu xing cao had inhibitory effect on staphylococcus aureus. yu xing cao decoction had inhibitory effect various Gram positive and negative bacteria including on staphylococcus aureus, staphylococcus albus, hemolytic streptococcus, diplococcus pneumoniae, bacilius diphtheriae, bacillus proteus, shigella dysenteriae, shigella flexneri and shigella sonnei, etc.. A yellowish oily stuff extracted from yu xing cao had inhibitory effect on various microorganism.

yu xin cao decoction could significantly improve the phagocytosis of human WBC in peripheral blood to staphylococcus aureus. Yu Xing Cao Injection could obviously improve the proportion of T lymphocytes in peripheral blood, and increase the phagocytosis of neutrophil leucocyte.

Inhalation of vapor of 5% yu xing cao decoction could dissolve phlegm. a-pinene had expectorant effect and linalool had anti-amthmatic and anti-tussive effects.

Sylvite and quercitrin could dilate the renal artery, increase the blood flow volume in the renal artery. Water solution of quercitrin diluted by 1¡ä10-6 still had storng diuretic effect.

1. Cytotoxic alkaloids from Houttuynia cordata.

Six bioactive alkaloids, aristolactam B(1), piperolactam A(2), aristolactam A(3), norcepharadione B(4), cepharadione B(5) and splendidine(6) were isolated by bioactivity-guided fractionation of a methanolic extract of the aerial part of Houttuynia cordata. Several of them exhibited significant cytotoxicity against five human tumor cell lines (A-549, SK-OV-3, SK-MEL-2, XF-498 and HCT-15) in vitro.

--Kim SK, Ryu SY, No J, Choi SU, Kim YS. Arch Pharm Res. 2001 Dec;24(6):518-21.

2. Antileukemic activity of Bidens pilosa L. var. minor (Blume) Sherff and Houttuynia cordata Thunb.

To evaluate the anti-leukemic activity of Bidens pilosa L. var. minor (Blume) Sherff and Houttuynia cordata Thunb., cytotoxicity tests with an XTT-based colorimetric assay were used. Five leukemic cell lines, namely L1210, U937, K562, Raji and P3HR1, were cultured with hot water extracts of B. pilosa var. minor or H. cordata. Hot water extracts of B. pilosa var. minor inhibited these five leukemic cells with IC50s between 145 microg/ml and 586 microg/ml. The effect was greatest on four cell lines, namely L1210, P3MR1, Raji and K562, with IC50s below 200 microg/ml and a selective index of more than 5. Hot water extract of H. cordata inhibited these five leukemic cells with IC50s between 478 microg/ml and 662 microg/ml. The selective index was between 1.5 and 2.1. B. pilosa var. minor was more effective than H. cordata in inhibiting most of the leukemic cells in our study. We suggest that B. pilosa L. var. minor (Blume) Sherff may prove to be a useful medicinal plant for treating leukemia.

--Chang JS, Chiang LC, Chen CC, Liu LT, Wang KC, Lin CC. Am J Chin Med. 2001;29(2):303-12.

yu xing cao decoction had significant anti-inflammatory effect. It also had hemostatic, anticancer and anti-psoriasis effects.

20ml Yu Xing Cao Injection, (each ml containing 1g crude drug) was injected after pleural effusion was taken out. Once every other day, 7 times as a course of treatment. Results: 11 cases of pleural effusion due to cancers were treated, and the effusion disappeared in all cases.

Bai He Gu Jin Wan plus yu xing cao, bai hua she she cao and ban zhi lian was used as the basic formula to treat 38 cases of metaphase lung cancer, one dose every day, 22 cases were improved.

yu xing cao 30g, jie geng 15g were decocted with water to 200ml, 30ml, 3~4 times daily. 28 cases of pneumnia were treated, and 25 were cured.

yu xing cao 180g, white sugar 30g, water decoction, 1 dose daily for consecutive 5~10 doses. 20 cases of acute hepatitis with jaundice were treated and all were cured.

Oral administration of Kang Jun Mixture (feng wei cao, yu xing cao, wu bei zi), 50ml, tid. 153 cases of acute bacillary dysentery were treated, 57 were cured, 70 markedly effective and 20 improved.

Fu Fang Yu Xing Cao Injection (yu xing cao, e bu shi cao, xin yi hua) for inferior turbinate injection, 1ml each time on two sides alternately. Among 37 cases of chronic and allergic rhinitis, 8 were cured, 2 markedly effective and 27 improved.

yu xing cao preparations were used to drip into the ear, 3~5 drips each time, bid~tid. 100 cases of chronic purulent otitis media were treated, and the curative rate was 95%.

Fresh yu xing cao was smashed to apply to affected area of mumps, bid. 16 cases of mumps were treated, and 13 were cured, 3 effective.

xi ye xiang cha cai 20g, yu xing cao 16g, water decoction, or made into tablets, 3~4 tablets, tid was used to treat 660 cases of fever in common cold. Results: 413 cases were cured, 235 markedly effective and 12 ineffective.

Except those noted, all references come from Weng Weiliang, et al., Clinical Chinese materia medica, Henan Science & Technology Press, 1998