Journal of Clinical & Experimental Pharmacology

Paeoniae Radix: A characteristic materia medica in Asian countries

5^th International Conference and Exhibition on Pharmacology and Ethnopharmacology

March 23-25, 2017 Orlando, USA

Kayoko Shimada Takaura and Kyoko Takahashi

Osaka University, Japan

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Clin Exp Pharmacol

Abstract:

Paeoniae Radix (Latin name for crude drugs) is defined as the root of Paeonia lactiflora Pallas (Peony in English and Shakuyaku in Japanese) in the Japanese Pharmacopoeia. It is one of the most popular herbal medicines and mainly used as sedative, antispasmodic and astringent in Kampo Medicine (Traditional Japanese Medicine) and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Especially in Kampo medicine, herbal medicines are used as prescriptions, the mixture of several kinds of crude drugs. We focused on one of Paeoniae Radix containing Kampo prescription, Tokishakuyakusan (TS), which is frequently used for improvement of blood circulation. We prepared two kinds of TS containing two different kinds of Paeoniae Radix; one is selectively bred strain in Japan for medicinal use and another is Western cultivar. Both of those prescriptions were effective for anemia patients (n=12) as shown by the improvement of several hematological parameters, but those effects were statistically different. We focused on iron, but there were no differences in its content of both prescriptions. We also investigated the state of the iron by analyzing Mössbauer spectra and found the differences in the spectra. In this investigation, we used the traditional form of TS which are composed by the directly powdered crude drugs. We suggested the efficacy of TS for anemia and the relation between the quality of Paeoniae Radix and the clinical effects of the prescription.

Biography :

Kayoko Shimada Takaura has completed her PhD from Osaka University and then studied as a Post-doctoral Researcher at School of Medicine in University of South Alabama, AL, USA for 1 year. She is now a Specially Appointed Assistant Professor in the Laboratory of Applied Pharmacognosy, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University. She has published 5 papers as a first author in journals.

Email: kayokost@phs.osaka-u.ac.jp