General

Scientific Names: Saururus chinensis (Lour.) Baill

Common Names: San Bai Cao, Wu Lu Ye Bai, Tang Bian Ou, Bai Hua Lian.

BOTANICAL:

来 源： 为三白草科植物三白草Saururus chinensis（Lour.）Baill. 的干燥根茎或全草。

植物特征： 多年生草本，高30—80厘米。茎直立或下部伏地。叶卵形或卵状披针形，长6—12厘米，宽2—6厘米，顶端渐尖，全缘，基部心状耳形，有基出脉5条，在花序下的2—3叶常为乳白色花瓣状；叶柄长1—3厘米。总状花序生在茎顶端，与叶对生；花序轴和花梗有短柔毛；苞片卵圆形，长约1毫米；雄蕊6；雌蕊有4个心皮，柱头4。果实阔卵形，熟时分裂为4果爿；种子圆形。花期6—7月，果期8—9月。

资源分布: 生于沟旁、沼泽等低湿处。主产江苏、浙江、湖南、广东。

生药材鉴定： 本品根茎呈圆柱形，稍弯曲，有分枝，长短不等；表面灰褐色，粗糙，有节及纵皱纹，节上有须根，呈环节状，节间长约2cm；质硬而脆，易折断，断面类白色，粉性。茎呈圆柱形，有纵沟4条，一条较宽广；断面黄色，纤维性，中空。单叶互生，叶片卵形或卵状披针形，长4～15cm，宽2～10cm；先端渐尖，基部心形，全缘，基出脉5条；叶柄较长，有纵皱纹。总状花序于枝顶与叶对生，花小，棕褐色。蒴果近球形。气微，味淡。

Pharmacology

化学成分: 含挥发油，油中主要为甲基正壬酮（mehtyl-nnonylketone）、肉豆蔻醚（myristicin），尚含槲皮素（quercetin）槲皮甙(quercitrin)、异槲皮甙篇蓄甙（avicularin0金丝桃甙（hyperoside）、芸香甙等。

Efficacy

The cytotoxicity of compounds derived from the aerial parts of Saururus chinensis towards 24 cancer model and six normal cell lines was examined by MTT assay and compared with those of the anticancer agents cisplatin and doxorubicin. The active principles were characterized as the neolignans manassantin A, and its erythro, erythro- and threo, erythro-epimers by spectroscopic analysis. Manassantin A was isolated from S. chinensis as a new cytotoxic principle. Its two epimers were isolated for the first time in nature. The neolignans were more active than cisplatin and doxorubicin, with IC50 values of the neolignans, cisplatin, and doxorubicin against SK-Hep-1, PC-3, DU-145, BT-20, SK-BR-3, T-47D, Hela, T98G, and SK-MEL-28 cancer cell lines, in the ranges 0.018-0.423, 1.175-7.922, and 0.131- >50 microg/mL, respectively. Manassantin A and its threo, erythro-epimer were equicytotoxic towards model cancer cell lines. threo, erythro-Manassantin A was more active than erythro, erythro-manassantin A. Additionally, these three neolignans (IC50 > 10 microg/mL) had very low cytotoxicity towards six normal cell lines, whereas cisplatin (IC50 2.846-0.825 microg/mL) and doxorubicin (IC50 5.222-0.008 microg/mL) exhibited potent cytotoxic effects. Structure-activity relationships indicate that the hydroxy moiety appears to be essential for cytotoxicity. These neolignans merit further study as potential anticancer agents or as leads. (source)

Manassantins A and B as specific inhibitors of NF-kappaB activation from Saururus chinensis significantly inhibited the induced expression of NF-kappaB reporter gene by LPS or TNF-alpha in a dose-dependent manner. However, these compounds did not prevent the DNA-binding activity of NF-kappaB assessed by electrophoretic mobility shift assay as well as the induced-degradation of IkappaB-alpha protein by LPS or TNF-alpha. Further analysis revealed that manassantins A and B dose-dependently suppressed not only the induced NF-kappaB activation by overexpression of RelA/p65, but also transactivation activity of RelA/p65. Furthermore, treatment of cells with these compounds prevented the TNF-alpha-induced expression of anti-apoptotic NF-kappaB target genes Bfl-1/A1, a prosurvival Bcl-2 homologue, and resulted in sensitizing HT-1080 cells to TNF-alpha-induced cell death. Similarly, these compounds also suppressed the LPS-induced inducible nitric oxide synthase expression and nitric oxide production. Taken together, manassantins A and B could be valuable candidate for the intervention of NF-kappaB-dependent pathological condition such as inflammation and cancer. (source)

IN VITRO:

1. Hahm JC, et al., Cytotoxicity of neolignans identified in Saururus chinensis towards human cancer cell lines. Planta Med. 2005 May; 71(5):464-9.
2. Lee JH, et al., Suppression of RelA/p65 transactivation activity by a lignoid manassantin isolated from Saururus chinensis. Biochem Pharmacol. 2003 Nov 15; 66(10):1925-33.
   
   
   

Safety