Chuan Xiong
StarLigusticum chuanxiong Hort.
Traditionally used for
- Headaches
- Menstrual & women's health
- Pain & joints
Cautions & contraindications
- Pregnancy
- Bleeding disorders
- Before surgery
- Heart conditions
☯ TCM Properties
Invigorates Blood and Dispels Stasis; Moves Qi and Resolves Stagnation; Dispels Wind and Stops Pain; Relieves Headaches
Traditional Chinese Uses
Chuan Xiong (Sichuan lovage rhizome) is a warm, acrid herb considered one of the principal Blood-moving and pain-relieving herbs in Chinese medicine. It simultaneously circulates Blood and moves Qi, making it indispensable for menstrual irregularities, amenorrhea, and dysmenorrhea from Blood stagnation. Its ascending, dispersing nature also makes it a leading herb for headache — particularly migraines and vertex headaches — and for releasing Wind from the exterior in headache and sinus conditions.
Western Herbalism Properties
Pharmacological Effects
- Antiatherosclerotic: Oral extract 3 g/day for 16 weeks in rabbits with cholesterol plus immune-injury atherosclerosis reduced lesion areas in aorta, innominate and carotid arteries and lowered serum cholesterol and LDL.
- Cardiac: Decoction increased contraction amplitude of isolated toad/frog hearts; 40 g/kg orally caused cardiac arrest in frogs; i.v. tetramethylpyrazine (TMZ) was cardiotonic in dogs, abolished by propranolol or reserpine.
- Coronary circulation: Extract, total alkaloids, phenolic fraction and TMZ dilated coronaries and increased coronary flow in dogs; antagonized pituitrin-induced ischemic ECG changes; sodium ferulate increased myocardial flow and reduced infarct size by 41% in rabbits.
- Antiplatelet and antithrombotic: TMZ inhibited ADP/collagen platelet aggregation in rabbits, healthy people and coronary patients and reduced thrombus size; sodium ferulate 0.3 g/kg i.v. gave 50% inhibition of thrombosis in rats.
- Vascular and hypotensive: Alkaloids and TMZ lowered vascular resistance and raised cerebral and limb blood flow in dogs; various extracts were hypotensive in animals; TMZ acts as a calcium antagonist.
- CNS: Oral decoction 25-50 g/kg was sedative in rats and mice, prolonged pentobarbital sleep and antagonized caffeine.
- Smooth muscle: Decoction contracted pregnant rabbit uterus (paralysis at high doses); phthalides inhibited PGF2α-induced rat uterine contraction; extract reduced intestinal contraction.
- Immunologic: TMZ at 100-1000 µg/ml inhibited lymphocyte proliferation in normal and B16 melanoma-bearing mice with context-dependent effects on ConA response.
Source: Zhu YP. Chinese Materia Medica: Chemistry, Pharmacology and Applications. Harwood Academic, 1998, p. 438.
Used In Formulas (164)
Relationships
Full-screen graph →Click a node for details · double-click to expand it · Ctrl/⌘ + scroll or two fingers to zoom and pan.
Botanical Description
Ligusticum chuanxiong (Chuan Xiong, Szechuan lovage), closely allied with Ligusticum sinense, is a perennial herb in the Apiaceae family, growing 40 to 70 centimeters tall from a knotty, irregularly globose, fist-shaped rhizome 2 to 7 centimeters in diameter, externally yellowish-brown with prominent annular nodes and conspicuous root scars, internally pale yellowish-white with scattered yellow-brown oil cavities producing an intensely sweet, warming, characteristically aromatic odor. The hollow stems are erect, finely grooved, and bear large bi- to tri-pinnately compound leaves with deeply incised, narrowly lanceolate ultimate segments. Compound umbels 5 to 10 centimeters across appear in summer, with numerous rays bearing small white flowers; involucral and involucellar bracts are linear. The schizocarp fruits are oblong-ovoid with prominent dorsal ribs. Predominantly cultivated rather than wild-collected, the species is grown extensively in Sichuan, China (the source of the name Chuan Xiong), where rhizomes are harvested in summer after the second year, smoke-dried, and sliced.
Active Constituents
Z-ligustilide
AlkylphthalideConcentration: principal component of the volatile oil of the rhizome
Z-ligustilide is the dominant phthalide of Chuan Xiong essential oil and carries much of the vasorelaxant, anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity attributed to the drug. It is chemically unstable, dimerising and oxidising on storage, which is why aged or heat-treated Chuan Xiong has a different profile from fresh material.
Senkyunolide A
AlkylphthalideIdentified by spectrum-effect analysis as the key active compound in Chuan Xiong essential oil for anti-Parkinsonian activity, acting on TNF, IL-1beta, ICAM1, VCAM1 and PTGS2. It is one of the phthalides responsible for the drug's use in headache and cerebrovascular disease.
Senkyunolide I
Hydroxylated alkylphthalideThe phthalide most used as a pharmacokinetic marker for Chuan Xiong in vivo. Its plasma exposure is strongly altered by disease state, biliary drainage, gut microbiota and by co-administered warfarin, which makes it the compound through which the Chuan Xiong-warfarin interaction has actually been measured.
Ferulic acid
Hydroxycinnamic acidConcentration: the Chinese Pharmacopoeia requires not less than 0.10% ferulic acid in Chuanxiong Rhizoma
The pharmacopoeial marker for the drug and a genuine contributor to its antiplatelet and antioxidant activity. Sodium ferulate, the injectable salt, has been shown in rats to shorten prothrombin time and lower the INR of co-administered warfarin while reducing warfarin exposure, so ferulic acid is not simply an additive bleeding risk.
Tetramethylpyrazine (ligustrazine, chuanxiongzine)
Pyrazine alkaloidThe compound behind most modern clinical claims for Chuan Xiong: it inhibits platelet aggregation, dilates vessels and is neuroprotective in ischaemia-reperfusion models. It is important to keep separate from the crude drug. The injectable and oral clinical products are ligustrazine hydrochloride or ligustrazine phosphate, essentially a synthetic single chemical, and the trials of those products do not establish the same effects for a Chuan Xiong decoction.
Levistolide A
Dimeric phthalideA phthalide dimer isolated from the rhizome that upregulates Nrf2, NQO1 and gamma-GCS in a dose-dependent manner, one of several constituents of the drug acting as Nrf2 inducers.
Chuanxiong pectic polysaccharides
Pectic polysaccharidePurified fractions are pectic polysaccharides composed mainly of galacturonic acid, galactose, arabinose and rhamnose. They show anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activity, and a homogeneous polysaccharide from the drug has been shown to reduce pressure-overload cardiac hypertrophy through SIRT3-mediated deacetylation of Foxo3a. These are lost from an essential-oil or ethanol extract and retained in a decoction.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Warfarin
This is a real, experimentally measured interaction rather than a class-based guess, but its direction is not simple. In a rat middle-cerebral-artery-occlusion model, co-administering Chuanxiong Rhizoma with warfarin changed the pharmacokinetics of both, and the effect was substantially mediated by gut microbiota, since it differed in pseudo germ-free animals. A follow-up study found the AUC and Cmax of senkyunolide I rose roughly two-fold when Chuanxiong was given with warfarin outside the disease model. Separately, sodium ferulate, an injectable form of a Chuan Xiong constituent, significantly decreased prothrombin time and INR when co-administered with warfarin in rats and lowered warfarin Cmax and AUC while raising clearance. Set against that, tetramethylpyrazine and ligustilide are antiplatelet, which pushes bleeding risk the other way. The net effect in a given patient is therefore not predictable from the pharmacology.
Clinical note: Do not start or stop Chuan Xiong in a warfarin-stabilised patient without checking the INR. Check within a week of any change and again after two to three weeks. Warn the patient about both bruising and, less obviously, loss of anticoagulant effect.
Antiplatelet agents (aspirin, clopidogrel) and direct oral anticoagulants
Chuan Xiong is one of the strongest blood-invigorating drugs in routine use and its two best-characterised constituents, tetramethylpyrazine and ferulic acid, both inhibit platelet aggregation. Chemical work on Guizhou-sourced Chuanxiong Rhizoma has isolated compounds screened directly for anticoagulant activity. The combination is used deliberately in Chinese cardiology, but the additive bleeding risk is real.
Clinical note: Reduce or stop Chuan Xiong before elective surgery, dental extraction or neuraxial anaesthesia, and avoid stacking it with dual antiplatelet therapy without a clear indication and follow-up.
Antihypertensive drugs
Ligustrazine is a vasodilator, and meta-analyses of Salvia-ligustrazine and ligustrazine injections in gestational hypertension and of Danshen-ligustrazine injection in primary hypertension and heart failure report blood-pressure and haemodynamic effects when added to conventional therapy. These are studies of the isolated alkaloid in injectable form; a Chuan Xiong decoction is a weaker and less predictable version of the same effect.
Clinical note: Watch for postural symptoms when Chuan Xiong is added to a multi-drug antihypertensive regimen, particularly in older patients.
Cadmium co-exposure (tobacco, contaminated rice, other Cd-accumulating herbs)
This is a contamination hazard specific to this species rather than a pharmacological interaction, and it is well documented. L. chuanxiong is a cadmium hyperaccumulator: cadmium is taken up preferentially into root and rhizome, the medicinal part, and published work states that rhizome cadmium content frequently exceeds the 1 mg/kg limit set by the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, with bioconcentration factors above 3 measured for the rhizome. Chuan Xiong is prescribed in long courses for headache and cerebrovascular disease, so the exposure is chronic.
Clinical note: Prefer suppliers that publish heavy-metal certificates of analysis, especially for long-term prescribing, in renal impairment, in pregnancy and in children. Do not treat this as an exotic concern; it is a routine quality-control failure for this particular herb.
Pregnancy
Chuan Xiong is a strong blood-invigorating and qi-moving drug and is traditionally used with caution or avoided in pregnancy, although it also appears in classical obstetric formulas such as Si Wu Tang and in modern Chinese trials of ligustrazine in gestational hypertension. There is no controlled human safety study of the crude drug in pregnancy.
Clinical note: Use in pregnancy only within a formula and an indication that a qualified practitioner has chosen deliberately; do not use as a self-selected supplement.
Dosage
| Form | Amount | Frequency | Duration | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decoction | 3–10 g | Daily | — | — | 中国药典 2020 【用法与用量】3～10g。 【性味与归经】辛，温。归肝、胆、心包经。 — Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2020, quoted verbatim; route and cautions preserved. Replaces a cleared category-filler value. |
Dui Yao — Herb Pairs
The classical two-herb combinations this herb appears in, each with an action neither herb has alone.
The combination dispels wind and moves blood upward to the head, relieving headache more effectively than either herb alone.
Wind headache, especially frontal and temporal; both are warm and dispersing, so unsuited to headache from yin deficiency or Liver yang rising.
Core pair of a classical formula — Chuan Xiong Cha Tiao San, Tai Ping Hui Min He Ji Ju Fang
Together they nourish and invigorate blood at once, so blood moves without being damaged and is supplemented without stagnating.
Blood deficiency with stasis: irregular menstruation, dysmenorrhea, postpartum abdominal pain.
Core pair of a classical formula — Fo Shou San (Xiong Gui San), Pu Ji Ben Shi Fang (Xu Shuwei)
Combining wind-extinguishing with blood-moving and upward-reaching action, the pair relieves headache and dizziness due to wind.
Head wind with dizziness and one-sided or generalized headache.
Core pair of a classical formula — Da Chuan Xiong Wan, Xuan Ming Lun Fang (Liu Wansu)
Evidence Tier
Strong evidence · 5 studiesRecorded 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
2
2 verified · 0 unverified
Randomized controlled trial
0
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
3
1 verified · 2 unverified
Show 3 studies
- Pharmacokinetics effects of chuanxiong rhizoma on warfarin in pseudo germ-free rats
- The pharmacokinetics effects of the MCAO model on senkyunolide I in pseudo germ-free rats after oral co-administration of Chuanxiong and warfarin
- Exploring the synergistic effects of chuanxiong rhizoma and Cyperi rhizoma in eliciting a rapid anti-migraine action based on pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics
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
Pharmacokinetics effects of chuanxiong rhizoma on warfarin in pseudo germ-free rats
Forty-eight rats in a middle-cerebral-artery-occlusion model received warfarin alone or with Chuanxiong Rhizoma or senkyunolide I, in normal and pseudo germ-free states, with plasma quantified by UPLC-MS/MS and stool analysed by 16S rRNA sequencing. Co-administration altered the pharmacokinetics of warfarin and of the Chuanxiong phthalides, and the effect depended on the gut microbiota, which is the clearest published mechanistic basis for the Chuan Xiong-warfarin interaction.
The pharmacokinetics effects of the MCAO model on senkyunolide I in pseudo germ-free rats after oral co-administration of Chuanxiong and warfarin
Follow-up study separating disease state, gut microbiota and co-medication. Compared with animals subjected to middle-cerebral-artery occlusion, non-operated rats given Chuanxiong plus warfarin showed roughly 2.08-fold higher AUC and 1.79-fold higher Cmax of senkyunolide I, while purified senkyunolide I given with warfarin behaved differently again. The practical message is that the size of the interaction depends on the patient's cerebrovascular disease state, not only on the two drugs.
Exploring the synergistic effects of chuanxiong rhizoma and Cyperi rhizoma in eliciting a rapid anti-migraine action based on pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics
In nitroglycerin-induced acute migraine in rats, Chuanxiong alone and the Chuanxiong-Xiang Fu pair normalised 5-HT, CGRP, MMP-2 and MMP-9, whereas Xiang Fu alone did not; Xiang Fu and the pair reduced IL-1beta, IL-6 and TNF-alpha. This separates what the two herbs in a classical pair actually contribute, with Chuanxiong carrying the vasoactive component.
The efficacy of Salvia-ligustrazine and Ligustrazine in treating gestational hypertension: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Pooled randomised evidence for ligustrazine and for the Salvia miltiorrhiza-ligustrazine combination added to conventional treatment of gestational hypertension. Read as evidence for ligustrazine hydrochloride injection, the isolated tetramethylpyrazine drug, rather than for Chuan Xiong rhizome as prescribed in a decoction.
Efficacy and safety of Salvia miltiorrhiza and ligustrazine injection for heart failure: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Systematic review and meta-analysis of Danshen plus ligustrazine injection as add-on therapy in heart failure. Again the intervention is an injectable combination containing the isolated alkaloid, so it supports the tetramethylpyrazine pharmacology of Chuan Xiong rather than oral use of the crude rhizome.
⚠ Safety & Contraindications
- Pregnancy
- Bleeding disorders
- Before surgery
- Heart conditions
Contraindications
Its use is cautious in pregnant women and patients with vigorous fire due to yin deficiency, profuse sweating, exuberant heat, and bleeding without blood stasis.
Source: Xi S, Gong Y. Essentials of Chinese Materia Medica and Medical Formulas. Academic Press/Elsevier, 2017, pp. 230–235.
Side Effects
- No severe adverse reactions reported apart from gastrointestinal symptoms
- Rarely, advanced menstruation and menorrhagia
- Oral TMZ 5 or 10 mg/kg daily for 4 weeks caused no significant abnormalities in animals
Source: Zhu YP. Chinese Materia Medica: Chemistry, Pharmacology and Applications. Harwood Academic, 1998, p. 438.
⚠ Rule-Based Cautions
These entries come from the deterministic rule tables that gate Verscienta's formula tools — classical pair prohibitions, pregnancy and lactation contraindications, and dose ceilings.
Pregnancy
Caution blood/qi-mover — avoid with any bleeding
Historical Texts
Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing
Han dynastyChinese Pharmacopoeia
1963 to 2020 editionsWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants (nomenclatural note)
Modern taxonomyReferences
- Liu J, Lei Z, Wang Z, Wang H, Sun J, Guo D, Luan F, Zou J, Shi Y. Ethnobotanical usages, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and quality control of chuanxiong rhizoma: A review . Journal of Ethnopharmacology (2025) [DOI]
- Wang Y, Wu L, Wang H, Jiang M, Chen Y, Zheng X, Li L, Yin Q, Han L, Bai L, Bian Y. Ligusticum chuanxiong: a chemical, pharmacological and clinical review . Frontiers in Pharmacology (2025) [DOI]
- Kong Q, Niu Y, Feng H, Yu X, Wang B, Liu X, Chen Y, Wang F, Tian J, Zhou H. Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort.: a review of its phytochemistry, pharmacology, and toxicology . Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology (2024) [DOI]
- Zhang K, Fang KL, Wang T, Xu LT, Zhao Y, Wang XN, Xiang L, Shen T. Chemical Constituents from the Rhizome of Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort. and Their Nrf2 Inducing Activity . Chemistry & Biodiversity (2021) [DOI]
- Zhao Y, Yang C, Liu Y, Qin M, Sun J, Liu G. Effects of sodium ferulate for injection on anticoagulation of warfarin in rats in vivo . BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies (2024) [DOI]
- Yu Z, Zhang Z, Jia S, Ling J, Liu L, Zhang J, Gao W, Han G, Wang H, He D, Zheng C. Cadmium-tolerant root microbes reduce cadmium accumulation in Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort. . PeerJ (2026) [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.
📝 Notes
Public notes from the community and your own private notes on Chuan Xiong.
No notes yet.