Dang Shen - Codonopsis Pilosula Radix

Umbelliferae or ApiaceaNative to

Native Native to north eastern China, particularly in Shanxi and Szechuan

provinces.
Campanulaciae family. A perennial climber growing to 1.7 meters.
Part used is the root.
History
Recorded history of use in Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) from 1751.
Argued that ancient texts referring to ginseng actually refer to Codonopsis rather
than Panax. Very difficult to prove either way.
After communist revolution used instead of Ginseng in traditional formulations as
Ginseng all reserved for export. As a result many patent Chinese medicines still
use codonopsis even when ginseng is indicated as even though ginseng is now
easily available it is 10 times more expensive.
In TCM seen as a milder form of Ginseng, and useful in situations of qi
deficiency. However only tonifies the spleen and lung meridians and not the
kidney meridian so in critical cases cases actual ginseng must be used.

It is also used as an ingredient in cooking. Particularly therapeutic recipes.

Cultivation
Most Codonopsis in use today is cultivated. It prefers light to medium well
drained soils in full sun or semi-shade, but it is important that the soil is always
moist. The roots should be harvested in the autumn after 3 years growth.
Composition
Not much research done on this
Triterpenoid Saponins primary components
Sterins
Alkaloid (perlolyrin)
Alkenyl and alkenyl glycosides
Polysaccharides (1% of dried root)
Phenylpropanoids (Tangshenoside I & II)
Usage
Adaptogenic
Stimulant
As seen above widely used in TCM. Less so in Western Herbal Medicine,
tincture available from Mediherb and also part of their Fe-plex blood tonic pill
(with Withania somnifera and vitamins)
Classic tonic herb. Improves vitality, and helps balance metabolic function.
Gentle action to revive whole system. Taken for tired limbs, fatigue, poor
digestion and loss of appetite.
Also given to those with false fire.symptoms which include tense neck muscles,
headaches, irritability and high blood pressure, and who might find the action of
ginseng too strong.
In China regularly taken by nursing mothers to increase milk production and
build strong blood.
Dosage
Tincture 1:2 30ml - 60ml (Mediherb website)
Research
Anti-tumour

In mice found to to significantly inhibit tumour growth and

stimulate lymphocyte proliferation. Macrophages and NO
production also enhanced. In vitro found to have potent
inhibitory effect on invasion, adhesion and migration of ovarian
cancer cells, and also found to be cytotoxic to human lung
adenocarcinoma.

Anti-inflammatory In vitro shown to have protective effect on kidney ischemia/

repurfusion by reducing pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF alpha.
Anti-oxidant
In vitro found to have anti-oxidant effects at lest as potent as
Panax ginseng
Immune System
In mice and in vitro shown to have possible positive
effect on immune system.
Neuro-protective

In vitro shown to protect neuronal cells

References
BONE, K. (2003) A clinical guide to blending liquid herbs: herbal formulations for the individual
patient. St. Louis: Churchill Livingstone.
CHEVALLIER, A. (1996) The encyclopedia of medicinal plants. London: Dorling Kindersley.
LI, C.-Y., XU, H.-X., HAN, Q.-B. & WU, T.-S. (2009) Quality assessment of Radix Codonopsis by
quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance. Journal of Chromatography A, Vol 1216, No 11,
pp. 2124-2129.
LI, Z., ZHU, L., ZHANG, H., YANG, J., ZHAO, J., DU, D., MENG, J., YANG, F., ZHAO, Y. & SUN, J.
(2012) Protective effect of a polysaccharide from stem of Codonopsis pilosula against renal
ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats. Carbohydrate Polymers, Vol 90, No 4, pp. 1739.
LIU, T., LIANG, W. & TU, G. (2007) Perlolyrine: A -Carboline Alkaloid from Codonopsis pilosula.
Planta Medica, Vol 54, No 5, pp. 472-473.
NG, T. B., LIU, F. & WANG, H. X. (2004) The antioxidant effects of aqueous and organic extracts of
Panax quinquefolium, Panax notoginseng, Codonopsis pilosula, Pseudostellaria
heterophylla and Glehnia littoralis. Journal of ethnopharmacology, Vol 93, No 2, pp.
285-288.
NRR, H. & WAGNER, H. (2007) New Constituents from Codonopsis pilosula. Planta Medica, Vol
60, No 5, pp. 494-495.
TSAI, K.-H., LEE, N.-H., CHEN, G.-Y., HU, W.-S., TSAI, C.-Y., CHANG, M.-H., JONG, G.-P., KUO,
C.-H., TZANG, B.-S., TSAI, F.-J., TSAI, C.-H. & HUANG, C.-Y. (2013) Dung-shen
(Codonopsis pilosula) attenuated the cardiac-impaired insulin-like growth factor II receptor
pathway on myocardial cells. Food Chemistry, Vol 138, No 2-3, pp. 1856-1867.
WAGNER, H., BAUER, R., MELCHART, D., XIAO, P.-G. & STAUDINGER, A. (2011) Radix
Codonopsis pilosulae Dangshen. Vienna: Springer Vienna. pp. 233-243.
WANG, Z. T., NG, T. B., YEUNG, H. W. & XU, G. J. (1996) Immunomodulatory effect of a
polysaccharide-enriched preparation of Codonopsis pilosula roots. General pharmacology,
Vol 27, No 8, pp. 1347-1350.
WONG, M.-P., CHIANG, T.-C. & CHANG, H.-M. (2007) Chemical Studies on Dangshen, the Root
of Codonopsis pilosula. Planta Medica, Vol 49, No 9, pp. 60-60.
XIN, T., ZHANG, F., JIANG, Q., CHEN, C., HUANG, D., LI, Y., SHEN, W., JIN, Y. & SUI, G. (2012)
The inhibitory effect of a polysaccharide from Codonopsis pilosula on tumor growth and
metastasis in vitro. International journal of biological macromolecules, Vol 51, No 5, pp.
788.
XU, C., LIU, Y., YUAN, G. & GUAN, M. (2012) The contribution of side chains to antitumor activity
of a polysaccharide from Codonopsis pilosula. International journal of biological
macromolecules, Vol 50, No 4, pp. 891-894.

YANG, C., GOU, Y., CHEN, J., AN, J., CHEN, W. & HU, F. (2013) Structural characterization and
antitumor activity of a pectic polysaccharide from Codonopsis pilosula. Carbohydrate
Polymers, Vol 98, No 1, pp. 886-895.
ZOU, Y.-F., CHEN, X.-F., MALTERUD, K. E., RISE, F., BARSETT, H., INNGJERDINGEN, K. T.,
MICHAELSEN, T. E. & PAULSEN, B. S. (2014) Structural features and complement fixing
activity of polysaccharides from Codonopsis pilosula Nannf. var. modesta L.T.Shen roots.
Carbohydrate Polymers, Vol 113, pp. 420.