Chinese medicine plant could treat chronic pain

Friday January 3rd, 2014

A plant traditionally used in Chinese medicine to relieve suffering contains key ingredients that could be used to combat chronic pain, researchers have reported.

Researchers from the University of California, USA, have isolated a compound known as dehydrocorybulbine (DHCB), which is found in the roots of the Corydalis, a member of the poppy family.

Writing in the latest edition of Current Biology, Olivier Civelli says DHCB is an analgesic that can tackle acute, inflammatory, and neuropathic or chronic pain.

Civelli and colleague Xinmiao Liang made the discovery as part of the “herbalome” project, which is attempting to catalogue all of the chemical components of traditional Chinese medicine.

The Corydalis plants grow mainly in central eastern China, where their tubers are harvested, ground, and then boiled in hot vinegar to treat pain, including headaches and back pain.

Civelli says that Corydalis extracts or isolated DHCB treat all types of pain but are likely to be useful for people with persistent, low-level chronic pain. It also maintains effectiveness in the way that traditional opiate drugs do not.

“We have good pain medications for acute pain: codeine or morphine, for example,” says Civelli.

“We have pain medication for inflammatory pain, such as aspirin or acetaminophen. We do not have good medications for chronic pain. DHCB may not be able to relieve strong chronic pain, but may be used for low-level chronic pain.”

Zhang et al. A novel analgesic Isolated from a Traditional Chinese Medicine. Current Biology January 2014; doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.11.039

Tags: Alternative Therapy | Asia | North America | Pain Relief | Pharmaceuticals

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