POISONOUS PARTS
Roots, bark, branches and leaves, especially the root hairs.4–8
TOXICITY
-
Toxic Constituents
Anabasine.4,9,10
-
Toxic Dose
Reported lethal dose: 80 g fresh fibrous roots (prepared into herbal decoction with wine).10
-
Mechanism
Anabasine is an agonist at nicotinic cholinergic receptors. The initial clinical features are mainly due to stimulation of the sympathetic ganglia; with larger doses or prolonged exposure, paradoxical inhibition occurs, resulting in ganglionic and neuromuscular blockade.11,12
-
Poisoning Features
Early phase: dizziness, nausea, tachycardia, hypertension, muscle twitching. Late phase: bradycardia , hypotension, weakness, paralysis, respiratory failure.4,6,10,12
-
Poisoning Events
A 50-year-old man in China developed limb weakness and respiratory failure, and finally succumbed after taking a herbal decoction prepared from a large dose (80 g) of fresh A. chinense fibrous roots with wine for knee pain.10
CLINICAL MANAGEMENT
Supportive treatment.12
IDENTIFICATION FEATURES
Shrubs or small trees, 3–5(–15) m tall; branchlets slightly zigzag. Petioles 2.5–3.5 cm long, reddish; leaf blades papery, 13–19 × 3–7 cm, base usually oblique, one side rounded while the other side cuneate. Cymes; flowers about 2 cm long, petals 6–8, white at first, turning yellow later. Drupes 5–8 × 5–7 mm, black when ripe.13
MEDICINAL USES
Uses in TCM—roots, fibrous roots and root bark: dispel wind-dampness, relax meridians and harmonise collaterals, dissipate stasis, relieve pain; flowers: disperse wind, regulate qi, relieve pain; leaves (for external use only): remove stasis and heal bone fracture, remove toxin and kill parasites. Recommended dose: fibrous roots 1–3 g, roots 3–6 g, flowers 3–10 g.2,14,15
LABORATORY ANALYSIS
Anabasine can be detected by HPLC-DAD, GC-MS, LC-MS and LC-MS/MS.16–19
