Tripterygium wilfordii - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Tripterygium wilfordii
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tripterygium wilfordii, or lei gong teng (Chin. ), sometimes called Thunder God Vine, is a vine used in traditional Chinese medicine for treatment of fever, chills, edema and carbuncle. Tripterygium wilfordii recently has been investigated as a treatment for a variety of disorders including rheumatoid arthritis, chronic hepatitis, chronic nephritis, ankylosing spondylitis, polycystic kidney disease as well as several skin disorders. It is also under investigation for its apparent antifertility eects, which it is speculated, may provide a basis for a [1] Male oral contraceptive.

Tripterygium wilfordii Scientic classication Kingdom: Plantae (unranked): Angiosperms (unranked): Eudicots (unranked): Rosids Order: Family: Genus: Species: Celastrales Celastraceae Tripterygium T. wilfordii

Contents
1 2 3 4 Scientic research on medical eects See also Footnotes References

Binomial name Tripterygium wilfordii

Hook.f.

Scientic research on medical eects

Certain extracts from Tripterygium wilfordii, as well as from Tripterygium hypoglaucum (now considered identical to T. regelii) and Tripterygium regelii, were discovered in the 1980s to have temporary antifertility eects, which has led to research on its potential as a contraceptive. "Tripterygium wilfordii Hook.f., known as Leigongteng (Thunder God Vine) in traditional Chinese medicine, has attracted much attention for its applications in relieving autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, and for treating cancer. Molecular analyses of the ITS and 5S rDNA sequences indicate that T. hypoglaucum and T. doianum are not distinct from T. wilfordii, while T. regelii should be recognized as a separate species. The results also demonstrate potential value of rDNA sequence data in forensic detection of adulterants derived from Celastrus angulatus in [2] commercial samples of Leigongteng." Not enough is known about T. wilfordii to actually test it as a contraceptive. Research thus far has dealt with establishing the mechanism by which the plant aects fertility, and investigating toxicity and side eects. What has been learned is encouraging, however: in both animals and humans, low doses of various Tripterygium extracts can produce signicantly lowered sperm density and motility indices without major side

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Tripterygium wilfordii - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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eects. When the treatment was ended in the various trials, all indices returned to normal within months. The plant contains many active compounds, at least six of which have male anti-fertility eect (triptolide, tripdiolide, triptolidenol, tripchlorolide, 16-hydroxytriplide and a compound known as T7/19, whose structure is unpublished). The mechanism by which they aect fertility is not yet understood. What is known is that daily doses of these compounds reduce sperm counts and also severely aect the formation and maturation of sperm, causing them to be immotile. At medicinal doses, T. wilfordii extract does have signicant side eects, including immuno-suppression. However, this may not apply to contraceptive use. Many of the side eects are caused by the other active compounds found in the plant, and do not appear when a pure extraction of the anti-fertility agents is used. In addition, the dose required to lower fertility is signicantly lower than the standard medicinal dose. T. wilfordii could be an eective pharmaceutical alternative to contraceptives based on hormonal manipulation. Further research may shed light on its functional mechanisms, and determine whether it could be used at low enough doses to avoid unpleasant side eects. More recently, a small molecule Triptolide derived from T. wilfordii has been shown to disrupt mitochondrial function in cells and is under investigation as an anti-tumor agent or to suppress auto-immune disorders. The August 18th 2009 Edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine published an article showing Tripterygium wilfordii was more eective than sulfasalazine in treating [3] [4] rheumatoid arthritis , In China Tripterygium wilfordii has an established history of use in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. The herb shows immunosuppressive, cartilage protective, and [5] [6] anti-inammatory eects. , , Triptolide, a diterpene triepoxide, is a major active component of extracts derived from Tripterygium wilfordii. Triptolide has multiple pharmacological activities including anti-inammatory, immune modulation, [7] antiproliferative and ctyproapoptotic activity. , Two compounds,the diterpenoid epoxide triptolide and the quinone triterpene celastrol (http://www.caymanchem.com/app/template/Product.vm/catalog/70950) found in the [8] plant may have potential as antitumor drugs. In August 2011 the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) published a drug safety bulletin advising consumers not to use medicines containing Lei Gong Teng. This was due to concerns over potentially serious side eects. However, a recent review stated that although Tripterygium wilfordii has toxic potential, careful extraction gives an acceptable frequency of adverse reactions, which are largely related to the gastrointestinal tract and amenorrhea. The review found that [9] T. wilfordii extract is useful remedy for postmenopausal rheumatoid arthritis. Drugs derived from the plant also show potential for reduction and elimination of

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pancreatic tumors in mice. Clinical trials may soon begin for the development of a drug [10] for use in humans. The Nanjing University School of Medicine is conducting (2012) a clinical trial of Tripterygium wilfordii to determine its possible benecial eects on kidney volume and [11] kidney function for polycystic kidney disease (PKD) patients.

See also
Male oral contraceptive TCM Materia Medica (Root Part 4) The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) (http://nccam.nih.gov/health/tgvine/) http://nccam.nih.gov/health/tgvine/

Footnotes
1. ^ Zhen QS, Ye X, Wei ZJ (February 1995). "Recent progress in research on Tripterygium: a male antifertility plant". Contraception 51 (2): 1219. doi:10.1016/0010-7824(94)00018-R (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2F0010-7824%2894%2900018-R) . PMID 7750290 (//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7750290) . 2. ^ Law et al (2010), p. 21. 3. ^ http://www.annals.org/content/151/4/229.full 4. ^ Marks W.H., "Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F. versus Sulfasalazine in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: A well-designed clinical trial of a botanical demonstrating eectiveness." Fitoterapia 2011 82:1 (85-87). 5. ^ Bao J., Dai S.-M. "A Chinese herb Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: mechanism, ecacy, and safety" Rheumatology International 2011 (1-7) 6. ^ Moudgil K.D., Venkatesha S.H., Rajaiah R., Berman B.M. "Immunomodulation of autoimmune arthritis by herbal CAM" Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2011 2011 Article Number 986797 7. ^ Liu Q. "Triptolide and its expanding multiple pharmacological functions" International Immunopharmacology 2011 11:3 (377-383) 8. ^ Liu Z, Ma L, Zhou GB. "The main anticancer bullets of the Chinese medicinal herb, thunder god vine." Molecules. 2011;16(6):5283-97 9. ^ Bao J., Dai S.-M.,"A Chinese herb Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: Mechanism, ecacy, and safety." Rheumatology International. 31 (9) (pp 1123-1129), September 2011. [Journal: Review] 10. ^ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-17/drug-from-chinese-thunder-god-vine-slaystumors-in-mice.html 11. ^ http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00801268

References
Downloadable PDF - "Molecular analyses of the Chinese herb Leigongteng (Tripterygium wilfordii Hook.f.)" (2010). Sue Ka-Yee Law et al. Phytochemistry 72 (2011) 2126, Elsevier.[1] (http://sd.zjpharma.cn/science?_ob=MImg& _imagekey=B6TH7-51HB79F-2-6&_cdi=5275&_user=4861547&

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_pii=S003194221000395X&_origin=browse&_zone=rslt_list_item& _coverDate=01%2F31%2F2011&_sk=999279998&wchp=dGLzVtz-zSkzS& _valck=1&md5=7203fd267090d325b2474c1c245b9c&ie=/sdarticle.pdf) Adv Exp Med Biol. 2007;599:139-46. Journal of Andrology 1998; vol 19 no 4, pp 479-486. Contraception 1995; vol 51, pp 121-129. Contraception 1995; vol 51, pp 121-129. Contraception 1986; vol 36 no 3, pp 335-345. MHRA safety bulletin (http://www.mhra.gov.uk/Safetyinformation /DrugSafetyUpdate/CON125972) Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tripterygium_wilfordii& oldid=518440692" Categories: Celastraceae Medicinal plants This page was last modied on 18 October 2012 at 03:07. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-prot organization.

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