Wu Lian Mei
StarCayratia japonica (Thunb.) Gagnep.
Synonyms: Causonis japonica (Thunb.) Raf., Vitis japonica Thunb., Cissus japonica (Thunb.) Willd.
Also known as: Wu Lien Mei · Wade–Giles
Safety at a glance
No rule in our tables for this herb: pregnancy, breastfeeding, incompatible pairs (十八反 / 十九畏), herb–drug, dose ceiling. This is not a safety clearance.
Not graded — No toxicity grade is recorded. Most herbs in the catalogue carry none.
Traditionally used for
- Digestion
- Bowel health
- Urinary & fluids
- Pain & joints
- Skin
- Liver & jaundice
☯ TCM Properties
Clear Heat, cools the Blood, removes toxicity, eliminates Dampness and resolves swelling
Traditional Chinese Uses
Wu Lian Mei is the whole herb of Cayratia japonica (Vitaceae), a slender, pedately five-foliolate climbing vine. Bitter and sour with a cold nature, it clears Heat, cools the Blood, resolves toxicity and drains Dampness to reduce swelling, entering the Heart, Liver and Stomach channels. It is used chiefly for toxic-heat sores — carbuncles, furuncles, boils, erysipelas and mumps — where the fresh herb is crushed and applied topically as well as taken internally. Other uses include damp-heat dysentery and jaundice, painful bloody urinary dribbling, rheumatic joint pain, and snake and insect bites.
The fresh plant is favoured for external poultices; the dried herb is decocted. It is a folk Heat-clearing, toxin-resolving remedy rather than a core classical herb.
Western Herbalism Properties
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Botanical Description
Cayratia japonica is a slender herbaceous, tendril-climbing vine of the grape family (Vitaceae), widespread across East and Southeast Asia. It climbs by leaf-opposed tendrils, with reddish, angular, often glabrescent stems. The leaves are pedately compound, usually with five leaflets on a common petiole; the central leaflet is largest, elliptic to ovate, with coarsely serrate margins. Small greenish-yellow flowers are borne in flat, long-stalked axillary cymes, developing into small globose berries that ripen from green through red to blue-black. The entire aerial herb (Herba Cayratiae), harvested in summer and autumn and used fresh or dried, is the medicinal part, applied to clear heat, cool the blood, resolve toxicity, drain dampness, and reduce swelling in sores, carbuncles, and mumps.
Thickets, hedgerows, roadsides, waste ground, forest margins and streambanks, from lowlands to mid-elevation hills.
Active Constituents
Apigenin
FlavoneInhibits monoamine oxidase in vitro with a marked A-selectivity, IC50 1.7 microM against MAO-A versus 12.8 microM against MAO-B, the most potent of the seven flavonoids isolated from the whole plant and fruit. It is also the constituent with the highest transdermal exposure when Cayratia japonica ointment is applied to intact or broken skin.
Luteolin
FlavoneInhibits MAO-A at IC50 4.9 microM and MAO-B at 59.7 microM in vitro. It permeates and is retained by both intact and broken skin after topical application of the ointment.
Quercetin
FlavonolStrongly and selectively inhibits MAO-A in vitro (IC50 2.8 microM) compared with MAO-B (90.0 microM).
Luteolin-7-O-beta-D-glucoside
Flavone O-glycosideIdentified as the key wound-healing constituent of the Cayratia japonica extract: it increased proliferation and migration of HaCaT keratinocytes and human skin fibroblasts, acting through the AMPK/CTHRC1/TGF-beta1 pathway as confirmed by plasmid transfection and cellular thermal shift assay. A weak MAO inhibitor by comparison (IC50 118.6 microM).
Luteolin-7-O-glucuronide
Flavone glucuronidePermeates skin after topical application and, in molecular docking, bound MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-3, MMP-8 and MMP-9 more strongly than the other constituents, implicating it in the remodelling phase of wound healing. Docking is a computational prediction, not a measured activity.
Apigenin-7-O-beta-D-glucuronide
Flavone glucuronideA skin-permeable constituent of the ointment and a mild MAO inhibitor in vitro (IC50 81.7 microM).
Schaftoside
Flavone C-glycosideOne of seven flavonoids shown by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS to permeate or be retained by rat skin after topical application of Cayratia japonica ointment.
Esculetin
CoumarinThe only non-flavonoid among the eight components shown to cross intact or broken skin from the ointment; also isolated from the whole herb in a Chinese phytochemical study.
Taxifolin (dihydroquercetin)
FlavanonolA weak monoamine oxidase inhibitor in vitro (IC50 154.7 microM), well above the concentrations reached by the flavones.
Eriodictyol
FlavanoneOne of thirteen compounds separated from a Fujian-sourced sample of the herb, and reported from the plant for the first time in that work.
Daucosterol
Phytosterol glycoside (beta-sitosterol 3-O-glucoside)A common plant sterol glucoside isolated from the whole herb; no plant-specific activity was assigned to it.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (e.g. phenelzine, tranylcypromine, moclobemide, selegiline, linezolid)
Activity-guided isolation from the whole plant and fruit found that its main flavonoids inhibit monoamine oxidase, with a consistent preference for MAO-A: apigenin IC50 1.7 microM, quercetin 2.8 microM and luteolin 4.9 microM against MAO-A. These are enzyme-assay figures on isolated compounds; nothing is known about the plasma concentrations a decoction produces, and the glycosides that actually predominate in the crude drug were 20 to 70 times weaker.
Clinical note: Not a reason to withhold the herb, but if a patient is on an MAOI or linezolid, prefer the topical use for which this herb is actually documented and avoid large internal doses.
Topical corticosteroids and other wound dressings applied to the same site
A Franz-cell study on rat skin showed that seven flavonoids and esculetin cross both intact and broken skin from Cayratia japonica ointment, and that permeation differs between the two, so an open wound gives systemic exposure that intact skin does not. The animal wound work attributes the benefit to suppression of the early inflammatory response plus promotion of angiogenesis and collagen deposition, which is not the same pharmacology as a corticosteroid applied to the same wound.
Clinical note: Where the ointment is used on an open wound (the setting it is documented in, post-operative perianal abscess care), do not layer it with a topical steroid without a reason; expect more absorption through broken than intact skin.
Dosage Calculator
⚖ Dosage Calculator
A weight-based mathematical estimate for Wu Lian Mei. Not a prescription.
Evidence Tier
3 studies on recordRecorded studies by study design, strongest design at the top. This is a study-design tier only, not a GRADE rating: it does not weigh risk of bias, consistency or precision.
Systematic review / meta-analysis
0
Randomized controlled trial
0
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
3
2 verified · 1 unverified
Show 3 studies
- Exploring the wound-healing mechanism of Cayratia japonica extract: A combined experimental and network pharmacology study
- Monoamine oxidase inhibitory components fromCayratia japonica
- Analysis of the permeable and retainable components of Cayratia japonica ointment through intact or broken skin after topical application by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS combined with in vitro transdermal assay
Other / unclassified
0
Verified: design read from PubMed for a DOI that resolves to the cited paper Unverified: taken from the study's recorded description
Clinical Studies
Exploring the wound-healing mechanism of Cayratia japonica extract: A combined experimental and network pharmacology study
HPLC-MS/MS identified 15 major constituents of the Cayratia japonica extract and network pharmacology predicted 102 wound-healing targets enriched in AMPK, TNF and metabolic pathways. Applied in vivo at 1.5 to 6 mg/cm2 against bFGF 150 IU/cm2 as comparator, the extract accelerated wound closure by suppressing inflammation, promoting angiogenesis and modulating collagen deposition. Luteolin-7-O-glucoside was identified as the active component and shown to drive keratinocyte proliferation and migration via AMPK/CTHRC1/TGF-beta1. Animal and cell work only.
Monoamine oxidase inhibitory components fromCayratia japonica
Activity-guided fractionation of a methanol extract of the whole plants and fruits yielded seven flavonoids. The aglycones were the potent inhibitors of monoamine oxidase (apigenin IC50 6.5 microM, luteolin 22.6 microM, quercetin 31.6 microM against total MAO), all of them A-selective, while the glycosides and flavanonols were 10 to 25 times weaker. Enzyme-level work with no pharmacokinetic context.
Analysis of the permeable and retainable components of Cayratia japonica ointment through intact or broken skin after topical application by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS combined with in vitro transdermal assay
Using modified vertical Franz diffusion cells and rat abdominal skin, seven flavonoids (schaftoside, luteolin-7-O-glucuronide, luteolin-7-O-glucoside, apigenin-7-O-glucuronide, luteolin, apigenin and chrysin) and the coumarin esculetin were shown to permeate or be retained by intact or broken skin from Cayratia japonica ointment. The flavonoids were the more permeable and docked most strongly to targets of the inflammatory and proliferative phases of healing.
References
- Chuan-wen Cui; C.L. Sun; Q.C. Chen; X.H. Zou; X.M. Huang; H.F. Chen. Preliminary study on chemical constituents seperated from Cayratia japonica . China Journal of Chinese Materia Medica (2012) [DOI]
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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