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Review
. 2023 Nov 14;9(11):e22153.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22153. eCollection 2023 Nov.

A review of the research progress on Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit.: Botany, traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicity and quality control

Ting Zou  1   2 , Jing Wang  1 , Xu Wu  1 , Kai Yang  1 , Qiao Zhang  1   2 , Changli Wang  1   2 , Xiao Wang  1 , Chongbo Zhao  1   2
Affiliations
Review

A review of the research progress on Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit.: Botany, traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicity and quality control

Ting Zou et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit. is a well-known perennial herb that is used in traditional medicine in China, Japan and Korea. It's drawing worldwide interests in medicinal applications owing such as anti-diarrhea, lipid-lowering, anti-tumor, anti-cough, expectorant, anti-gastric ulcer, etc.

Aim of the study: This review aims to provide useful information on the botany, traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicity and quality control of Pinellia ternata to help increase its efficiency. In addition, this review will discuss the future research trends and development prospects of this plant.

Materials and methods: Data was obtained through a systematic search of published literature and online databases such as Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed, Science Direct, and Sci-Finder. The botanical names were confirmed using the World Flora Online and chemical structures were drawn using the ChemBio Draw Ultra Version 19.0 Software.

Results: Pinellia ternata is distributed in regions of China and other areas. Pinellia ternata and its compound preparations can be used for cough, vomiting, gastric ulcer and other diseases. Approximately 212 chemical constituents have been isolated from Pinellia ternata, including alkaloids, volatile oils, amino acids, organic acids, flavonoids, cerebrosides, phenylpropanoids and other compounds. Considerable pharmacological experiments in vitro and in vivo have demonstrated that Pinellia ternata possessed antitumor effect, antitussive effects, antiasthmatic effects, increasing resistance to gastric ulcer, and antidiarrheal effect. However, these extracts can also lead to various toxicities such as irritant toxicity, cardiotoxicity, hepatotoxicity and embryonic toxicity. Considerable experiments have demonstrated that different processing methods and suitable compatibility with other herbs can effectively reduce the toxicities and increase the efficiency of Pinellia ternata.

Conclusions: Pinellia ternata is an ancient herbal medicine with a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities that has been used for thousands of years in China. Future studies should perform an in-depth analyses of the pharmacokinetics and mechanisms of toxicity of Pinellia ternata. Quality standards should be developed to correspond to the various application methods to ensure the efficacy of drugs in actual treatment.

Keywords: Botany; Pharmacology; Phytochemistry; Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) breit; Quality control; Toxicity; Traditional uses.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Graphical abstract.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Photograph of Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit. Note: (A) The morphology of the Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit; (B) the whole plant or overground part of Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit; (C) Pinellia ternata decoction pieces; (D) Pinelliae Rhizoma Praeparatum (Fa-Banxia, 法半夏); (E) Pinelliae Rhizoma Praeparatum Cum Zingibere et Alumine (Jiang-Banxia, 姜半夏); (F) Pinelliae Rhizoma Praeparatum Cum Alumine (Qing-Banxia清半夏).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Structures of alkaloid isolated from Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Structures of volatile oil isolated from Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Structures of Amino acids isolated from Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Structures of Organic acid isolated from Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Structures of Flavonoids isolated from Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
Structures of Cerebrosides isolated from Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit.
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
Structures of Phenylpropanoids isolated from Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit.
Fig. 10
Fig. 10
Structures of others isolated from Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit.
Fig. 11
Fig. 11
Pharmacological action diagram of Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit.
Fig. 12
Fig. 12
Pharmacological effect of Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit. Note: Mucin 5AC messenger RNA (MUC5AC mRNA)，Aquaporin-5 (AQP-5), Ovalbumin (OVA), Serum CC chemokine receptor 3 (CCR3), Immunoglobulin E (IgE)，Immunoglobulin G (IgG), Interleukin-5 (IL-5), Interleukin-13 (IL-13), Thyroglobulin (TG), Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 5-HT receptor 3 (5-HT-3), natural killer cell 1(NK1), a trypsin inhibitor (RPTI).
Fig. 13
Fig. 13
Toxicological effect of Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit. Note：Pinelliae Rhizoma Praeparatum Cum Alumine (PRPCA), Pinelliae Rhizoma Praeparatum Cum Zingibere et Alumine (PRPZA), and Pinelliae Rhizoma Praeparatum (PRP). Creatine kinase (CK), Creatine kinase Isozyme (CKMB), Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β).
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