Jin Guo Lan
StarTinospora sagittata (Oliv.) Gagnep.
Traditionally used for
- Nose & throat
- Cough & breathing
- Digestion
- Skin
Cautions & contraindications
- Liver conditions
☯ TCM Properties
Clears Heat, soothes the throat, eliminates toxins and alleviates pain
Traditional Chinese Uses
Jin Guo Lan is the tuberous root of Tinospora sagittata (Radix Tinosporae, Menispermaceae), a bitter, cold, Heat-clearing and toxicity-resolving herb entering the Lung, Large Intestine, Heart, and Stomach channels. Its signature use is to clear Heat, soothe the throat, and relieve toxicity and pain: it is a go-to remedy for hot, swollen, painful sore throat and for mouth and throat sores. It also treats Heat-toxin abscesses and, topically, various skin and dermatological inflammations.
Through its bitter-cold clearing action it is additionally used for stomach and abdominal pain of Heat type. The root is decocted or ground to powder for internal use and can be applied externally to sores; its clerodane diterpenoids underlie the anti-inflammatory effect. Because it is markedly cold and bitter, it is used in measured dose and generally within a formula under professional guidance.
Western Herbalism Properties
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Jin Guo Lan (金果欖) is the tuberous root of Tinospora capillipes Gagnep. or Tinospora sagittata (Oliv.) Gagnep. (Menispermaceae), perennial twining vines native to southern China, particularly Guizhou, Guangxi, Hunan, and Yunnan. The plants climb over shrubs and trees, bearing slender stems, alternate cordate to sagittate leaves, and small greenish flowers in axillary racemes. The medicinal portion is the rounded to elongated tuber, gathered in autumn and winter, sliced, and dried. In traditional Chinese medicine, Jin Guo Lan is classified as bitter and cold, entering the Lung and Large Intestine channels, and is used to clear heat, detoxify fire toxin, relieve sore throat, and reduce swelling. It is widely employed for tonsillitis, pharyngitis, mumps, and intestinal heat patterns.
Active Constituents
Palmatine
Protoberberine (benzylisoquinoline) alkaloidConcentration: the principal quaternary alkaloid of the tuberous root and the compound used for assay and identification of the drug in Chinese quality-control work
Palmatine is the marker alkaloid of Jin Guo Lan and the main carrier of its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activity; palmatine chloride suppresses nitric oxide, hydrogen peroxide and pro-inflammatory cytokine production in stimulated macrophages. It is a close structural relative of berberine and behaves like it pharmacologically, which is the reason for the cautions below.
Jatrorrhizine
Protoberberine (benzylisoquinoline) alkaloidConcentration: the second major protoberberine of the root, co-assayed with palmatine by RP-HPLC in Chinese quality-control methods
Jatrorrhizine accompanies palmatine throughout the tuber and its biosynthesis is one of the traits for which the species has been genome-sequenced. It contributes to the bitter taste that gives the drug its regional name di ku dan, earth gallbladder.
Columbamine
Protoberberine alkaloidConcentration: a minor protoberberine of the tuberous root
One of the alkaloids identified among the active constituents of Tinosporae Radix in network pharmacology work on acute pharyngitis. It shares the protoberberine skeleton and its behaviour with palmatine and jatrorrhizine.
Columbin
Clerodane furanoditerpenoid lactoneConcentration: the best-known diterpenoid of the tuber and one of the constituents whose accumulation shifts with nitrogen fertilisation
Columbin is the archetypal furanoditerpenoid of Tinospora and part of the anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive fraction of the root. Furan-containing diterpenoids of this class are also the structural type implicated in the drug's hepatotoxicity.
Fibleucin
Clerodane furanoditerpenoidConcentration: a constituent of the tuberous root; identified in 2026 as a hepatotoxic principle of the drug
Fibleucin is bioactivated by cytochrome P450 3A to a cis-2-butene-1,4-dial reactive intermediate that depletes glutathione and forms protein adducts, producing dose-dependent liver injury in mice. Pretreatment with the CYP3A inhibitor ketoconazole markedly reduced that injury. This is the first identified molecular basis for the safety concerns that have accumulated around this herb.
Tinosagins A to D
Clerodane furanoditerpenoidsConcentration: four new diterpenoids isolated from the tuberous roots; two of them inhibited alpha-glucosidase with IC50 values of 31.83 and 47.35 micromolar
These recently described clerodanes show moderate alpha-glucosidase inhibition, which is of interest given the traditional use of Tinospora species in diabetes. The potencies are in the tens of micromolar and are not by themselves a basis for glycaemic claims.
20-Hydroxyecdysone (ecdysterone)
PhytoecdysteroidConcentration: reported among the seventeen active compounds of Tinosporae Radix and isolated from the fruits along with clerodane diterpenoids
A steroid of insect-moulting-hormone type that is common in Menispermaceae. It is one of the constituents identified in network-pharmacology analyses of the drug but has no established role in its throat-clearing use.
Tetrahydropalmatine
Tetrahydroprotoberberine alkaloidConcentration: a minor alkaloid among the active constituents identified in Tinosporae Radix
Tetrahydropalmatine is a centrally active dopamine antagonist in its own right and is the analgesic principle of Corydalis. Its presence here is minor but it is the constituent that most plausibly links Tinospora preparations to sedation or to dopaminergic drug effects.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Shan Ci Gu (Cremastra appendiculata or Pleione species), where Tinospora sagittata is supplied under that name
Jin Guo Lan is one of the most nomenclaturally tangled drugs in the southern Chinese materia medica. In Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan and Guizhou the tubers of Tinospora sagittata and Tinospora capillipes are habitually sold under the name shan ci gu, which is also the official name of an unrelated orchid drug, the pseudobulbs of Cremastra appendiculata and Pleione species. The Pharmacopoeia recognises Tinospora sagittata and Tinospora capillipes as the co-official sources of the Menispermaceae drug Tinosporae Radix (Jin Guo Lan), and the Orchidaceae plants as the source of Shan Ci Gu, but the market does not respect the distinction. Because genuine Cremastra is scarce and expensive, cheaper adulterants circulate under the shan ci gu name, and mixed use is documented as a cause of hepatic injury. Jin Guo Lan also carries its own regional aliases including qing niu dan, di ku dan and jin niu dan.
Clinical note: Never accept or prescribe shan ci gu without the binomial. If the intent is the orchid drug for scrofula and nodules, specify Cremastra appendiculata; if the intent is Jin Guo Lan for sore throat, specify Tinospora sagittata. A tuber that is hard, yellow and intensely bitter is Tinospora, not an orchid pseudobulb.
CYP3A4 inducers (rifampicin, carbamazepine, phenytoin, St John's wort) and CYP3A4 inhibitors (ketoconazole, clarithromycin, ritonavir)
Liver injury from this herb is not idiosyncratic but metabolic. Fibleucin, a furan-bearing clerodane diterpenoid of the root, is converted by cytochrome P450 3A to a cis-2-butene-1,4-dial reactive intermediate that depletes hepatic glutathione and forms protein adducts, and mice given fibleucin showed dose-dependent transaminase rises and histological damage. Pretreatment with ketoconazole 100 mg/kg, a CYP3A inhibitor, markedly attenuated the injury, establishing CYP3A-mediated bioactivation as the causal step. The direct implication is that anything which induces CYP3A should worsen the hepatotoxicity of the herb. This is animal mechanistic evidence; no human interaction study exists.
Clinical note: Avoid Jin Guo Lan in patients on strong CYP3A inducers, in patients with glutathione-depleting conditions such as malnutrition, fasting or heavy alcohol use, and in existing liver disease. Keep courses short, as the classical use is for acute sore throat rather than long-term dosing, and check transaminases if it is continued beyond a few weeks.
Paracetamol (acetaminophen) and other hepatotoxic drugs
Both paracetamol and the fibleucin of Tinospora sagittata injure the liver by generating reactive electrophiles that consume hepatic glutathione, and in the paracetamol case the same CYP3A family contributes to bioactivation. Concurrent exposure would draw down the same limited glutathione pool. The reasoning is mechanistic; the two have not been co-administered in a published study.
Clinical note: Advise patients not to combine this herb with regular paracetamol or with other known hepatotoxins, and to stop it at once if they develop nausea, right upper quadrant discomfort, dark urine or jaundice.
Tinospora capillipes and Tinospora crispa, and the Ayurvedic drug Guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia)
Tinospora capillipes is co-official with Tinospora sagittata as Jin Guo Lan, so that substitution is sanctioned. Two other congeners are not: Tinospora cordifolia (Guduchi) and Tinospora crispa are widely traded medicinal plants with their own body of literature, and palmatine has been reported from both Tinospora sagittata and Tinospora cordifolia so shared-constituent arguments blur them further. The species has also been reclassified into the segregate genus Paratinospora, so recent papers appear under Paratinospora sagittata and will be missed by a search on Tinospora alone.
Clinical note: When reading a Tinospora paper, check which species was used and whether it is filed under Paratinospora. Do not carry Guduchi dosing or safety data across to Jin Guo Lan.
CYP-metabolised and P-glycoprotein substrate drugs, on protoberberine grounds
The root is rich in the protoberberine alkaloids palmatine, jatrorrhizine and columbamine, which belong to the same structural class as berberine. Berberine-class alkaloids are established inhibitors of several CYP isoforms and of P-glycoprotein. No such study has been performed on Tinospora sagittata extract or on its palmatine content specifically, so this remains a class inference.
Clinical note: Treat as unstudied rather than absent. Exercise the same caution you would with a berberine-containing herb in patients on narrow-therapeutic-index drugs.
Dosage
| Form | Amount | Frequency | Duration | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decoction, or powder/pills | 3–9 g | Daily | — | — | 中国药典 2020 monograph 【金果榄】【用法与用量】3～9g。外用适量，研末吹喉或醋磨涂敷患处。 【性味与归经】苦，寒。归肺、大肠经。 — Matched to ChP by romanised drug name (pinyin 'Jin Guo Lan' → 金果榄); the romanisation is unique across all 649 ChP monographs, and the match was cross-checked against this record's own TCM temperature. Quoted verbatim. |
Evidence Tier
Moderate 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
0
Randomized controlled trial
0
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
5
0 verified · 5 unverified
Show 5 studies
- Cytochrome P450 3A-mediated metabolic activation of fibleucin from Tinospora sagittata initiates liver injury in mice
- Tinosporae Radix attenuates acute pharyngitis by regulating glycerophospholipid metabolism and inflammatory responses through PI3K-Akt signaling pathway
- Clerodane furanoditerpenoids from the tuberous roots of Tinospora sagittata (Oliv.) Gagnep. and their α-glucosidase inhibitory activity
- Clerodane diterpenoids with in-vitro anti-neuroinflammatory activity from the tuberous root of Tinospora sagittata (Menispermaceae)
- Anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive activities of compounds from Tinospora sagittata (Oliv.) Gagnep.
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
Cytochrome P450 3A-mediated metabolic activation of fibleucin from Tinospora sagittata initiates liver injury in mice
Fibleucin, a furanoditerpenoid of Tinospora sagittata, caused dose-dependent transaminase elevation and hepatic histological damage in mice. The compound was metabolised by CYP3A to a cis-2-butene-1,4-dial intermediate that depleted glutathione and formed protein adducts, and pretreatment with ketoconazole 100 mg/kg markedly reduced the injury. The paper opens by noting that the safety of this widely used herb has raised increasing concern, and it supplies the first mechanism for that concern.
Tinosporae Radix attenuates acute pharyngitis by regulating glycerophospholipid metabolism and inflammatory responses through PI3K-Akt signaling pathway
In an ammonia-induced rat model of acute pharyngitis and in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages, Tinosporae Radix reduced IL-6, TNF-alpha and COX-2 and inhibited PI3K-Akt signalling, with downregulation of lysophosphatidylcholine and lysophosphatidic acid. Seventeen active compounds were identified, chiefly protoberberine alkaloids and clerodane diterpenoids including palmatine, jatrorrhizine, columbamine, columbin, tinoside and ecdysterone. This is the closest thing to evidence for the traditional throat indication and it is preclinical.
Clerodane furanoditerpenoids from the tuberous roots of Tinospora sagittata (Oliv.) Gagnep. and their α-glucosidase inhibitory activity
Four new clerodane furanoditerpenoids, tinosagins A to D, were isolated from the tuberous roots and screened for alpha-glucosidase inhibition; two showed IC50 values of 31.83 and 47.35 micromolar. The study material is explicitly the tuberous root of Tinospora sagittata, the Jin Guo Lan drug.
Clerodane diterpenoids with in-vitro anti-neuroinflammatory activity from the tuberous root of Tinospora sagittata (Menispermaceae)
Clerodane diterpenoids isolated from the tuberous root of Tinospora sagittata were tested for suppression of inflammatory mediator production in microglial models. It is one of a run of papers establishing that the clerodane fraction, and not only the protoberberine alkaloids, carries anti-inflammatory activity in this drug.
Anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive activities of compounds from Tinospora sagittata (Oliv.) Gagnep.
Compounds isolated from Tinospora sagittata were assessed in rodent models of inflammation and nociception, providing the earliest direct pharmacological support for the traditional use of the tuber for sore throat and pain. The study works with isolated constituents rather than the decoction as prescribed.
⚠ Safety & Contraindications
- Liver conditions
Contraindications
Its use is cautious in patients with weakness of the spleen and stomach.
Source: Xi S, Gong Y. Essentials of Chinese Materia Medica and Medical Formulas. Academic Press/Elsevier, 2017, pp. 53–72.
Historical Texts
Ben Cao Gang Mu Shi Yi
Qing dynasty, 1765, by Zhao XueminPharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China
Modern, listed under the drug name Jin Guo Lan since the 2015 editionReferences
- Alami MM, Shu S, Liu S, Ouyang Z, Zhang Y, Lv M, Sang Y, Gong D, Yang G, Feng S, Mei Z, Xie DY. Chromosome-scale genome assembly of medicinal plant Tinospora sagittata (Oliv.) Gagnep. from the Menispermaceae family . Scientific Data (2024) [DOI]
- Wang J, Xie Y, Wang S, Chen L, Wu L, Hu Z, Deng J, Wu Z, Wang Y, Wang S, Huang L. Protective effect and mechanism of Zhuang medicine Tinosporae Radix on LPS-induced neuroinflammation . Journal of Ethnopharmacology (2025) [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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