Gao Ben
StarLigusticum sinense Oliv.
Traditionally used for
- Headaches
- Colds & fever
- Pain & joints
Cautions & contraindications
- Pregnancy
- Liver conditions
☯ TCM Properties
Disperses Wind-Cold; Drains Dampness; Alleviates Pain; Reaches the Vertex of the Head
Traditional Chinese Uses
Gao Ben (Chinese lovage rhizome, ligusticum sinense) is a warm, pungent herb with a strong affinity for the Taiyang and vertex regions of the head. It releases Wind-Cold from the Exterior and dispels Wind-Cold-Damp from the channels, making it a primary herb for Wind-Cold headaches affecting the vertex, occiput, and upper back — the Taiyang channel distribution. It also relieves body aches and stiffness from Wind-Cold invasion. Its strong upward-moving, dispersing nature directs its action specifically to the uppermost regions of the head.
Western Herbalism Properties
Pharmacological Effects
- Uterine relaxant: Butylphthalide, butylidene phthalide and ligustilide inhibited PGF2alpha-induced contraction of nonpregnant rat uterus in vitro; butylidene phthalide more active than ligustilide.
Source: Zhu YP. Chinese Materia Medica: Chemistry, Pharmacology and Applications. Harwood Academic, 1998, p. 72.
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 sinense is a stout perennial aromatic herb in the Apiaceae family native to the cool montane regions of central and northern China, where it is cultivated for its medicinal rhizome. From a thick knotty branched rhizome and stout fibrous roots arises an erect ridged hollow stem 30-100 cm tall. The leaves are large, two- to three-times pinnately compound, with ovate, deeply incised and serrated leaflets and conspicuously sheathing petioles; foliage and rootstock emit a strong celery-like, slightly camphoraceous aroma owing to ligustilide and related phthalides. Small white flowers are borne in flat compound umbels 6-12 cm across at the stem tips and upper axils in summer, followed by oblong-ovate ribbed mericarps. The pale yellow-brown gnarled rhizome with its protruding nodal scars is the medicinal material Gao Ben.
Active Constituents
Myristicin
Alkenylbenzene (methylenedioxy-substituted phenylpropanoid)Concentration: 47.43 plus or minus 12.66% of the volatile oil of Ligusticum sinense, against 10.86 plus or minus 6.18% in Ligusticum jeholense; these are relative percentages within the essential oil, not percentages of the dried drug
The chemical marker that separates Ligusticum sinense from the other official Gao Ben species, and the constituent that most deserves attention on safety grounds. Myristicin is the psychoactive and toxic principle of nutmeg, where large ingestions cause an anticholinergic and hallucinogenic syndrome; poisons-centre series continue to report these cases. At the amounts present in a Gao Ben decoction it is not expected to produce those effects, but concentrated essential oil preparations of this species are a different proposition from the crude drug.
Neocnidilide
DihydrophthalideConcentration: 2.87 plus or minus 2.31% of the volatile oil of Ligusticum sinense, against 26.43 plus or minus 19.63% in Ligusticum jeholense
The mirror image of myristicin across the two official species: it dominates Liao Gao Ben (Ligusticum jeholense) and is a minor component of Ligusticum sinense. Any statement about the phthalide pharmacology of Gao Ben therefore has to name the species it was made about.
(Z)-Ligustilide
PhthalideThe characteristic Apiaceae phthalide, shared with Chuan Xiong and Dang Gui, and responsible for much of the antispasmodic, vasorelaxant and analgesic activity of this group of drugs. It is unstable to heat, light and oxygen, so old or badly stored material loses it.
Senkyunolide A and senkyunolide I
PhthalidePhthalides listed among the discriminating chemical markers for Ligustici Rhizoma et Radix. Senkyunolide I is the more polar and more stable of the pair and is a common analytical marker for this drug group.
3-n-Butylphthalide
PhthalideA minor volatile phthalide of the rhizome and one of the identity markers used in UHPLC-Q/TOF-MS discrimination of Gao Ben from its adulterants.
Levistilide A and other dimeric phthalides
Dimeric phthalidePhthalide dimers formed by Diels-Alder-type coupling of ligustilide units. Two new dimers were isolated from Ligusticum sinense rhizome in 2021 and inhibited nitric oxide production in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages with IC50 values near 4.9 micromolar, which is the most direct in vitro anti-inflammatory evidence tied to this species rather than to a relative.
Ferulic acid
Hydroxycinnamic acidA common phenolic acid of the Apiaceae medicinal rhizomes and one of the marker components used to classify Ligustici Rhizoma et Radix varieties. It is not specific to Gao Ben and cannot be used alone to authenticate it.
Bergapten
Linear furanocoumarinIdentified among the characteristic chemical components of Ligustici Rhizoma et Radix. As a linear furanocoumarin it is photoactive under UVA and is the reason topical and bathing preparations of this drug carry a phototoxicity caveat.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Chuan Xiong (Ligusticum chuanxiong / Conioselinum anthriscoides) - nomenclatural collision, not a substitution
This is a database hazard rather than a pharmacological one, and it is the single most important thing to know about this record. Current global taxonomy places Ligusticum sinense Oliv. under Conioselinum anthriscoides (H.Boissieu) Pimenov and Kljuykov in the World Flora Online 2026-06 classification, and the GBIF backbone likewise treats Ligusticum chuanxiong S.H.Qiu et al. as a synonym of Conioselinum anthriscoides. Gao Ben and Chuan Xiong therefore resolve to the same accepted binomial while remaining two separate Pharmacopoeia drugs with different indications and different dose ranges. Worse, the two chief Chuan Xiong-type cultivars are published as Ligusticum sinense Oliv. cv. Chuanxiong and Ligusticum sinense Oliv. cv. Chaxiong, so a large slice of the literature indexed under Ligusticum sinense - cadmium accumulation work, the Chaxiong phthalide pharmacokinetics, the stroke and cardiovascular pharmacology - is about Chuan Xiong and not about Gao Ben at all.
Clinical note: Read the cultivar epithet before using any Ligusticum sinense paper as evidence for Gao Ben. A study naming cv. Chuanxiong or cv. Chaxiong is Chuan Xiong data. Where this corpus already holds a Ligusticum chuanxiong record, the two must be kept as separate drugs despite the shared accepted name.
Ligusticum jeholense (Liao Gao Ben, Conioselinum smithii) supplied as Gao Ben
The Chinese Pharmacopoeia admits both Ligusticum sinense and Ligusticum jeholense as Ligustici Rhizoma et Radix, and the two are routinely confused in the market. GC-MS with chemical pattern recognition showed the discrimination rests on two markers whose proportions are almost reversed: myristicin runs at about 47% of the oil in Ligusticum sinense and about 11% in Ligusticum jeholense, while neocnidilide runs at about 3% and about 26% respectively. A batch supplied as one species will not have the volatile profile of the other.
Clinical note: If a monograph, dose or safety statement rests on volatile oil composition, confirm which of the two species the batch actually is. The myristicin-heavy Ligusticum sinense is the one to be more cautious with in concentrated or essential-oil form.
Non-official Apiaceae adulterants of Ligustici Rhizoma et Radix
An ITS2 mini-barcode study of 68 samples covering the two official species and seven potential adulterant or substitute species found the market drug is commonly sold sliced and dried, which defeats morphological identification, and that ITS2 secondary structure separates true Gao Ben from three adulterant species. A parallel UHPLC-Q/TOF-MS study of 61 authenticated samples separated official material from adulterants on butylphthalide, senkyunolide I, senkyunolide A, ferulic acid, (Z)-ligustilide, bergapten, levistilide A, vanillic acid and isochlorogenic acids C and A. Conioselinum vaginatum, the Xinjiang Gao Ben, is a further species that circulates under the same drug name.
Clinical note: Sliced Gao Ben cannot be authenticated by eye. Require a barcode or chromatographic identity for this drug in particular.
Alcohol, sedatives and anticholinergic drugs - with concentrated Ligusticum sinense essential oil
Myristicin makes up close to half the volatile oil of this species. In its better-known source, nutmeg, myristicin ingestion produces an anticholinergic and hallucinogenic picture with tachycardia, agitation, dry mouth and, in children, reversible coma; a Swiss poisons-centre series covering 2014 to 2023 documents the pattern. There is no case report of myristicin toxicity from Gao Ben, and a conventional 3 to 10 g decoction delivers only a small fraction of a toxic nutmeg dose. The caution attaches to distilled essential oil, high-percentage extracts and prolonged high dosing, not to the crude drug.
Clinical note: Do not dispense Ligusticum sinense essential oil for internal use. Avoid the crude drug in pregnancy, and keep dosing within the pharmacopoeial range rather than escalating it for stubborn vertex headache.
Warfarin, antiplatelet drugs and DOACs
Ligustilide and the senkyunolides inhibit platelet aggregation, and this is reasonably well documented for the closely related drug Chuan Xiong. Gao Ben shares the phthalide chemistry but carries far less of it than Chuan Xiong does - neocnidilide is under 3% of the oil in this species - and no bleeding interaction has been reported for Gao Ben itself.
Clinical note: Low practical concern at normal doses. Worth mentioning if a formula stacks Gao Ben with Chuan Xiong, Dang Gui and other phthalide-rich herbs in an anticoagulated patient.
Photosensitising drugs and UV exposure
Bergapten is among the identified constituents of Ligustici Rhizoma et Radix. Linear furanocoumarins photosensitise skin under UVA and Apiaceae is a leading family for phytophotodermatitis. The amounts here are small and no case has been attributed to Gao Ben.
Clinical note: Relevant only to topical, wash and compress preparations, and mainly for patients already on a phototoxic drug.
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。归膀胱经。 — Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2020, quoted verbatim; route and cautions preserved. Replaces a cleared category-filler value. |
Evidence Tier
Limited evidence · 1 studyRecorded 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
1
1 verified · 0 unverified
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
New dimeric phthalides from the rhizomes of Ligusticum sinense Oliv
Two new phthalide dimers plus three known ones were isolated from Ligusticum sinense rhizome, with absolute configurations assigned by comparison of calculated and experimental ECD spectra. Tested against nitric oxide production in LPS-treated RAW264.7 macrophages, two of them inhibited with IC50 values of 4.86 and 4.87 micromolar. This is one of the few pharmacological datasets generated on authenticated Ligusticum sinense rather than on a Chuanxiong cultivar.
⚠ Safety & Contraindications
- Pregnancy
- Liver conditions
Contraindications
Its use is prohibited in patients with headache due to yin-blood (blood and body fluids) depletion, ascendant hyperactivity of liver yang, or internal exuberant fire-heat.
Source: Xi S, Gong Y. Essentials of Chinese Materia Medica and Medical Formulas. Academic Press/Elsevier, 2017, pp. 15–23.
Historical Texts
Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing
Han dynastyReferences
- Liu Y; Meng X; Jin X; Wang L; Liu S; Chen S; Du K; Li J; Chang Y. A comprehensive review of the botany, ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, pharmacology, quality control and other applications of Ligustici Rhizoma et Radix. . Journal of Ethnopharmacology (2024) [DOI]
- Li S; Huang Y; Zhang F; Ao H; Chen L. Comparison of Volatile Oil between the Ligusticum sinese Oliv. and Ligusticum jeholense Nakai et Kitag. Based on GC-MS and Chemical Pattern Recognition Analysis . Molecules (2022) [DOI]
- Liu Zw; Gao Yz; Zhou J. Molecular Authentication of the Medicinal Species of Ligusticum (Ligustici Rhizoma et Radix, “Gao-ben”) by Integrating Non-coding Internal Transcribed Spacer 2 (ITS2) and Its Secondary Structure . Frontiers in Plant Science (2019) [DOI]
- Lei XQ; Li G; Cheng L; Wang XL; Meng FY. Identification of Ligustici Rhizoma et Radix and its adulterants based on their chemical constituents by UHPLC-Q/TOF-MS combined with data mining . Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis (2018) [DOI]
- Wei XP; Zhang XY; Dong YQ; Cheng JL; Bai YJ; Liu JS; Qi YD; Zhang BG; Liu HT. Molecular Structure and Phylogenetic Analyses of the Complete Chloroplast Genomes of Three Medicinal Plants Conioselinum vaginatum, Ligusticum sinense, and Ligusticum jeholense . Frontiers in Plant Science (2022) [DOI]
- Zhang X; Liu J; Gao S; Chen R; Qi Y; Zhang B; Sun X; Liu H; Xiao P. Ultra-performance convergence chromatography, a more efficient method for chemical quality evaluation of Gaoben medicinal materials compared with the ultra-performance liquid chromatography . Journal of Chromatography A (2020) [DOI]
- Bleisch A; Späni S; Schumann R; Dongre K; Degrandi C; Leuppi-Taegtmeyer A. Intoxication with nutmeg: A case presentation and analysis of Swiss poisons information center (Tox Info Suisse) enquiries 2014–2023 . Toxicology Reports (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 Gao Ben.
No notes yet.