Author: Guangdong Pharmaceutical Association, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University Zhu Sha
With the arrival of winter, the temperature drops sharply, and many people cannot escape the claws of "coughing". Especially those elderly and children with bronchitis, in the winter, cough will come to the door. Children cough, the elderly cough, adults also follow the cough, cough cough cough... I have been coughing non-stop, I can't work well during the day, I can't sleep well at night, and my sputum seems to be coughing up. Winter is also the season of high incidence of respiratory diseases, the major hospitals are crowded, and ordinary clinics have to queue up for a long time to see a doctor. In the face of the elderly and children who cough incessantly at home, don't mention how bad it is. So how do you stop coughing quickly? Is there any good expectorant trick in Chinese medicine? There is a medicine you must not miss, it is called expectorant medicine, cough medicine - aster.
Overview of Materia Medica
As a commonly used Chinese herbal medicine, Aster has a long history in China, "Materia Medica" said "its root color purple and soft, so the name", clinically mainly used to moisturize the lungs expectorant cough, in the treatment of phlegm, cough, is the first echelon of medicine. The Shennong Materia Medica says: "Aster tastes bitter and warm, the main cough is against the upper qi, the chest is cold and hot, the poison is withered, and the five organs are safe." "Materia Medica Justice" Yun: "Aster is soft and moist, although it is bitter and warm, it is not dry and fierce, it is comparable to the discharge of lung depression, and it is stable and suffocated." "Materia Medica Tongxuan" contains: "Aster, spicy but not dry, moist but not cold, supplement but not stagnant". "Famous Doctors" said: "Cure cough and saliva pus and blood, stop wheezing and palpitations, five labor deficiencies, make up for deficiencies, and children's seizures." "Materia Medica" said: "Specializing in the treatment of blood phlegm, it is a holy medicine for blood labor, and it can also benefit the small intestine." Folk are generally used to treat venomous snake bites and respiratory infections.
Image source: China Plant Image Database Copyright: Li Guangmin
Source function
Aster is the dried root and rhizome of the perennial herb Asteraceae, also known as braided, splint vegetable, donkey ear vegetable, soft aster, qingyuan, purple qian, revitalizing grass and so on. It grows at an altitude of 400 to 2000 meters in low mountain yin slope wetlands, mountain peaks, low mountain meadows and swamps, mainly distributed in northeast China, north China, Henan, Anhui and other places. In the spring and autumn, digging is carried out, the knotted rhizomes (customary "mother roots") and sediment are removed, and they are braided and dried in the sun, or directly dried.
Spicy, bitter, warm, return to the lungs, with the effect of moisturizing the lungs, eliminating phlegm and cough, used for phlegm and cough, new cough, cough and so on.
Its temperature is not hot, moist but not dry, the main into the lung meridian, longer than the lungs under the gasification of phlegm and cough, so the cough of the disease, whether it is new for a long time, external or internal injury, cold cough or hot cough, can be used, for the phlegm cough medicine.
chemical composition
The chemical composition of aster is very rich, and according to statistics, about 60 kinds of chemical components have been isolated from it. As far as the current research situation is concerned, it is roughly divided into the following types: terpenes and their saponins, peptides, coumarins, flavonoids, sterols, organic acids, anthraquinones, volatile oils and so on.
Pharmacological effect
Modern pharmacological studies have shown that Aster not only has the effect of coughing up sputum, promoting lung asthma, but also has anti-tumor, antibacterial, antioxidant activities and diuretic and laxative effects.
1. Antitussive expectorant, asthma
Studies have shown that the n-butanol extract of aster decoction and its isolated butyl-D-ribulose glycoside have an expectorant effect. Decoctions of aster have a pronounced expectorant effect, but the antitussive effect is slightly worse. Aster can inhibit the contractile effect of histamine and acetylcholine on the trachea, while inhibiting tracheal spasm and achieving the effect of asthma.
2. Antibacterial
In vitro bacteriostatic effect tests have proved that aster ethanol extract has a strong bacteriostatic effect on Staphylococcus aureus, Pasteurella, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus and Salmonella.
3. Anti-virus
Astershionone C isolated from asteroids isolated from aster is resistant to hepatitis B virus and its secretions, and its antiviral mechanism is to make hepatitis B virus cells cytotoxic and inhibit their DNA replication.
4. Antioxidant activity
It was found that quercetin and kaempferol in aster had a high inhibitory effect on cell hemolysis, lipid peroxide and superoxide free radical production, and in addition, scopolamine and emodin in aster also inhibited the production of superoxide free radicals.
5. Diuretic laxative
Studies have shown that Aster can improve the viability of acetylcholinesterase in mouse intestinal tissue, reduce the content of NE, increase the content of 5-HT in brain tissue, and exert a tonic effect by regulating the secretion of the above-mentioned brain intestinal peptides.
6. Anti-inflammatory and analgesic
In clinical application, it was found that Aster also has analgesic effect, and the analgesic effect on headaches caused by cold and heat mixtures, chest and flank abdominal pain is better than that of general painkillers. Cell trials and clinical treatment have confirmed the effect of aster extract and aster saponins on anti-chronic obstructive pneumonia. There are also many anti-inflammatory and analgesic pharmacological components in aster, such as emodin and quercetin have anti-inflammatory and bacteriostatic effects.
7. Anti-tumor
The peptides in Aster are the main active ingredients for antitumor action. Experiments showed that episomynol in aster had a significant inhibitory effect on ascites carcinoma, P388 lymphocytes and leukemia cells in mice, and the polysaccharide component in aster extract could inhibit the growth of gastric cancer cells SGC-7901.
Classic formula
1. Shoot dry ephedra soup
Composition: shoot dry, ephedra, ginger, fine spices, aster, winter flowers, jujube, half summer, schisandra.
Directions: Decoction in water.
Indications for treatment: warm lung drinking, lower breath expectorant. Indications for the treatment of cold sputum depressed lung nodal laryngeal syndrome. Symptoms include coughing, wheezing, phlegm in the larynx like a water chicken sound, or a watery sound in the chest, or a stuffy chest, or spitting, white and greasy, and tight or tight pulse strings. Clinically commonly used for bronchial asthma, acute and chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary heart disease and so on.
Contraindications: It is contraindicated in patients with evidence of pulmonary sputum fever.
2. Stop coughing
Composition: Platycodon, Wattle, Aster, Hundred Parts, White Front, Licorice, Tangerine Peel.
Usage: study the fine powder together, 9 grams per serving, after eating, when lying down, boiling water to take, the first feel of wind chill, with ginger soup to adjust down.
Indications for efficacy: promote lung ventilation, cough and phlegm. Indications for the treatment of external cough, cough and itchy throat, sputum is unpleasant, or slightly bad wind and fever, thin white tongue, slow pulse. Clinically used for the treatment of upper respiratory tract infections, bronchitis, pertussis and other manifestations of the unfinished evil, lung qi loss.
Contraindications: Patients with blood in sputum should use with caution. Yin deficiency and labor, should not be used.
Modern preparations
1. Cough granules
Ingredients: Ephedra, ginger, spices, aster, winter flowers, fa ban xia, xinyi, cang er.
Indications for function: dispelling wind and cold, promoting lung cough. Used for wind chill attack lung evidence, symptoms: cough, sputum thin and white, itchy throat, chills, fever, etc., acute bronchitis see the above symptoms.
Dosage: Take with warm boiled water, 1 sachet at a time, 3 times a day.
Precautions: Athletes should use with caution.
2. Cough and asthma granules
Ingredients: Ephedra, Aster, 100, Licorice, Bitter Almond.
Indications for function: cough and sputum. For cold and cough.
Dosage: Take with boiling water. 15 grams at a time, 3 times a day.
Medicinal food prescription
1. Winter flower aster tea
Raw materials: 6 grams of tea, 3 grams of winter flowers and aster.
Method: Put the three herbs into a hot water bottle, brew it in boiling water to half of the bottle, cover it for more than 10 minutes, you can drink it as tea, drink it several times in 1 day, and discard the sediment.
Indications for treatment: cough and sputum. Indications for the treatment of cough and phlegm caused by external wind chill, wheezing and shortness of breath, cold fever and other symptoms.
2. Aster almond drink
Ingredients: Aster 15 g, rock sugar 50 g, pig lung 500 g, dates 20 g, almonds 20 g.
Directions: Wash the pig lungs, cut into small pieces, wash the aster, dates, almonds, put them in a pot, add an appropriate amount of water, boil over low heat, turn to simmer for 2 hours, cool slightly, filter, add rock sugar water and mix.
Indications: Expectorant and cough. Suitable for chronic bronchitis, coughing up blood, rheumatism, prolonged cough and other symptoms.
3. Aster porridge
Ingredients: 10 grams of aster, 100 grams of rice, sugar to taste.
Method: Select the aster, put it in the medicine jar, soak it for 5 to 10 minutes, fry the juice in water, add rice to cook the porridge, add sugar when it is cooked, and then boil it for one or two boils, 1 dose per day, and eat for 3 to 5 days.
Indications: Expectorant and cough. It is suitable for coughing up the qi reversal, coughing sputum discomfort, as well as lung weakness cough, sputum with blood and other coughs.
Reviewer: Ye Yingxia, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University
The above is the original work of the volunteers of the "Drug Safety Cooperation Alliance", if you reprint, please indicate the author and source!
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