Traditionally used for
- Pain & joints
Cautions & contraindications
- Liver conditions
☯ TCM Properties
Dispels Wind-Dampness and relaxes the sinews; Relaxes the sinews and unblocks the channels
Traditional Chinese Uses
Kuan Jin Teng (Caulis Tinosporae Sinensis) is the dried stem of the woody vine Tinospora sinensis, a Wind-Damp-dispelling herb whose name means "loosen-the-sinews vine." Bitter and cold (some sources slightly bitter and cool), entering the Liver channel, it dispels Wind-Dampness, relaxes the sinews and unblocks the channels and collaterals, easing pain and stiffness.
Its principal use is Wind-Damp painful obstruction (bi syndrome): rheumatic and arthritic joint pain, contracture and stiffness of the sinews, low-back and lumbar-muscle strain, and traumatic injury with pain and restricted movement. It is also a noted Tibetan-medicine remedy for arthritis. It is commonly decocted in generous amounts (10-30 g) and used externally as a wash or poultice for painful joints and injuries. Because it is cold and moving, it is used cautiously in cold-deficiency patterns.
Western Herbalism Properties
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Kuan Jin Teng is the dried stem of Tinospora sinensis (Lour.) Merr. (Menispermaceae), a large, woody, twining liana of subtropical and tropical broadleaf forests in southern China (Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Hainan), India, and Indochina. Mature stems are cylindrical, 1–3 cm thick, with greyish-brown, longitudinally fissured corky bark studded with raised lenticels and bearing long, slender, fleshy aerial roots that hang downward. In transverse section the wood shows a characteristic radiating, wheel-spoke pattern of broad medullary rays alternating with wedges of yellowish xylem around a central pith, with a bitter, slightly mucilaginous taste. Leaves are alternate, broadly ovate-cordate, palmately 5–7-veined, 7–14 cm long. Small greenish flowers are borne in axillary racemes; the drupe is red and pea-sized. Stems are cut year-round, sliced obliquely, and dried; used in TCM to dispel wind-damp, relax sinews, invigorate Blood, and relieve bi-syndrome pain.
Active Constituents
Clerodane diterpenoids and their glucosides (tinosinesides R to V, tinosinensides, and related clerodane glucosides)
Clerodane-type diterpenoids and diterpenoid glucosidesConcentration: The dominant diterpenoid class of the stem; twenty clerodane diterpenoids were reported from a single stem extract, individual content not standardised
The characteristic and probably the defining chemistry of the medicinal stem, and the class targeted in the 2024 immunomodulatory work, in which several clerodane glucosides modulated immune cell responses in vitro. One of the newly described members is the first diterpenoid found bearing a thio sugar. This is the fraction to look for when authenticating the drug, since it separates Tinospora from the Vitaceae vines sold under the same trade name.
Isoquinoline and aporphine alkaloids (magnoflorine, palmatine, jatrorrhizine, berberine, columbamine)
Protoberberine and aporphine alkaloidsConcentration: Twenty-seven alkaloids characterised in the stem by HPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap tandem mass spectrometry; absolute content not established
The bitter alkaloid fraction shared across the genus Menispermaceae, including the protoberberines berberine, palmatine and jatrorrhizine and the aporphine magnoflorine. Magnoflorine has documented alpha-glucosidase inhibitory activity, which is the chemical basis for the Ayurvedic use of Tinospora species in diabetes. Protoberberines are also the part of the profile most likely to matter for drug metabolism.
Phenylpropanoids and lignans (trans-syringin, pinoresinol glucosides)
Phenylpropanoid glycosides and lignansConcentration: Twenty-three phenylpropanoid and lignan constituents identified in the stem
A substantial and often overlooked fraction of the stem, contributing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. Syringin is shared with several unrelated drugs and does not identify the species.
Sesquiterpenoids (tinocordiside, tinocordifolin and related)
Sesquiterpenoids and sesquiterpene glycosidesConcentration: Seven sesquiterpenoids identified in the stem
Chemotaxonomically interesting rather than therapeutically central: tinocordiside and tinocordifolin are named for Tinospora cordifolia yet occur here too, which is part of why the two species are so readily passed off for one another and why a chemical fingerprint alone may not separate them.
Ursolic acid, oleanolic acid and beta-sitosterol glucoside
Triterpenoids and phytosterolsConcentration: Minor constituents of the stem
Widely distributed anti-inflammatory triterpenes and a common sterol glycoside. Ubiquitous in plant drugs and of no value for authentication.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Tinospora cordifolia (Guduchi, Giloy)
Tinospora sinensis is documented as a substitute for and adulterant of Tinospora cordifolia and is sold in the Indian market as Giloy or Guduchi; the microscopical characters of the two overlap closely, and they share sesquiterpenoids such as tinocordiside. This matters clinically because a multicentre Indian series reported liver injury, including autoimmune-pattern hepatitis, in patients taking Giloy during the COVID-19 pandemic, and one published rebuttal argued that species misidentification within the trade was part of the explanation. Either way, a patient taking a product labelled Giloy cannot be assumed to be taking Tinospora cordifolia, and a patient taking Kuan Jin Teng cannot be assumed to be free of the Giloy safety question.
Clinical note: Source Kuan Jin Teng from a Chinese supplier that names Tinospora sinensis and the stem, not from Indian Giloy stock. Ask about self-prescribed Giloy or Guduchi supplements, since these stack the same genus by another route. Consider baseline and follow-up liver enzymes on courses beyond a few weeks, and stop for jaundice, dark urine or unexplained fatigue.
Tinospora crispa
Tinospora crispa is a third congener traded in the same Giloy and Guduchi channel and has caused acute fulminant hepatitis; a 2019 review reported two such cases alongside the earlier literature. The leaves resemble those of Tinospora cordifolia closely enough that people mistake one for the other. Tinospora sinensis has no comparable case series of its own, but it sits in the same substitution pool, so an unverified Tinospora stem carries the congener's risk by way of identity error rather than by way of shared pharmacology.
Clinical note: Do not accept Tinospora material identified only to genus, and do not treat any Tinospora product as hepatically neutral. Avoid stacking it with other hepatotoxic drugs or with alcohol, and investigate any transaminase rise rather than attributing it to the underlying arthritis or its treatment.
Cissus assamica and other Vitaceae vines sold as Caulis Cissi
Kuan Jin Teng is traded with the Latin trade name Caulis Cissi as well as Caulis Tinosporae Sinensis, and Cissus is a genus in the Vitaceae, not the Menispermaceae. Cissus assamica is itself a medicinal stem with a wholly different profile, its published constituents running to benzenoids, triterpenes, tocopherols and chlorophylls rather than clerodane diterpenoids and protoberberine alkaloids. Nothing known about Tinospora sinensis can be applied to material that is actually Cissus.
Clinical note: Treat the trade name Caulis Cissi as ambiguous and insist on the binomial. Bitter taste and yellow protoberberine-stained tissue point to Tinospora; their absence should prompt a query with the supplier.
Tinospora sagittata (Jin Guo Lan, traded under the name Shan Ci Gu)
Tinospora sagittata is a separate species whose drug is the tuberous root, rich in the bitter clerodane columbin and in palmatine, and it is used as a heat-clearing and toxin-resolving remedy for sore throat and swelling, not as a wind-damp vine. It also circulates under the name Shan Ci Gu, which properly belongs to an orchid drug from Cremastra and Pleione. Kuan Jin Teng is the stem of Tinospora sinensis and belongs to a different clinical category; the two Tinospora drugs share a genus and almost nothing else in how they are used.
Clinical note: Confirm both the species and the plant part on delivery. A root or tuber in a consignment ordered as Kuan Jin Teng stem is the wrong drug, and a Shan Ci Gu order that arrives as a Menispermaceae root is a separate error to raise with the supplier.
Ciclosporin, tacrolimus and other narrow-therapeutic-index CYP3A4 or P-glycoprotein substrates
The stem contains berberine, palmatine and jatrorrhizine, protoberberine alkaloids for which inhibition of CYP3A4 and of P-glycoprotein is documented as a class. No pharmacokinetic interaction study has been done on Tinospora sinensis, and the alkaloid content of the stem has not been quantified, so the size of any effect is unknown; the concern is a class inference from constituents, not an observed interaction.
Clinical note: Where a patient is on a transplant immunosuppressant or another narrow-index CYP3A4 substrate, monitor trough levels around any change in herb dosing rather than assuming no effect.
Immunosuppressant and immunomodulatory therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (methotrexate, biologic DMARDs)
The clerodane diterpenoids of the stem were characterised specifically as immunomodulatory agents in vitro, and a stem extract reduced pro-inflammatory cytokine production and MAPK signalling in collagen-induced arthritis rats. The herb's main traditional indication is rheumatoid arthritis, so the co-exposure with disease-modifying drugs is not hypothetical even though the interaction itself is untested in humans.
Clinical note: Ask specifically about Kuan Jin Teng and Tibetan arthritis formulae in patients on methotrexate or a biologic. Do not present the herb as a substitute for disease-modifying therapy, and keep the rheumatology team informed of what the patient is taking.
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
1
0 verified · 1 unverified
In vitro / animal
4
2 verified · 2 unverified
Show 4 studies
- Tibetan medicine Kuan-Jin-Teng exerts anti-arthritic effects on collagen-induced arthritis rats via inhibition the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and down-regulation of MAPK signaling pathway
- Targeted discovery of clerodane diterpenoids from Tinospora sinensis as immunomodulatory agents
- Rapid Characterization and Identification of Non-Diterpenoid Constituents in Tinospora sinensis by HPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap MSn
- Clerodane Diterpenoid Glucosides from the Stems of Tinospora sinensis
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
Tibetan medicine Kuan-Jin-Teng exerts anti-arthritic effects on collagen-induced arthritis rats via inhibition the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and down-regulation of MAPK signaling pathway
An ethanolic extract of Tinospora sinensis stem reduced arthritis severity in collagen-induced arthritis rats, with lowered pro-inflammatory cytokine production and downregulated MAPK signalling as the proposed mechanism. This is the most directly relevant efficacy evidence for the drug's main indication, and it is a rodent model, not a trial; there is no controlled human study of Kuan Jin Teng in rheumatoid arthritis.
Targeted discovery of clerodane diterpenoids from Tinospora sinensis as immunomodulatory agents
Five new clerodane diterpenoid glucosides, tinosinesides R to V, were isolated from the stems along with fifteen known diterpenoids and screened for immunomodulatory activity. One is the first reported diterpenoid carrying a thio sugar and another the first 18,19-dinor-clerodane with a cis-fused A/B ring. Isolated-compound work on cell assays; no whole-extract or clinical claim follows from it.
Rapid Characterization and Identification of Non-Diterpenoid Constituents in Tinospora sinensis by HPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap MSn
Identified sixty non-diterpenoid constituents of the stem by tandem mass spectrometry: twenty-seven alkaloids including berberine, palmatine, magnoflorine, jatrorrhizine and columbamine, twenty-three phenylpropanoids including trans-syringin and pinoresinol glucosides, seven sesquiterpenoids including tinocordiside and tinocordifolin, and ursolic acid, oleanolic acid and beta-sitosterol glycoside. Analytical rather than pharmacological, and the reference chemical map for authenticating this drug against its substitutes.
Clerodane Diterpenoid Glucosides from the Stems of Tinospora sinensis
Isolation and structure elucidation of clerodane diterpenoid glucosides from the medicinal stem, establishing this class as the characteristic chemistry of the drug. Phytochemistry only, with no efficacy or safety implication on its own.
Tinospora Cordifolia (Giloy)-Induced Liver Injury During the COVID-19 Pandemic-Multicenter Nationwide Study From India
A multicentre Indian observational series of patients presenting with liver injury after taking Giloy, a substantial proportion with an autoimmune hepatitis-like pattern and some with severe outcomes. The species named is Tinospora cordifolia, not Tinospora sinensis, and product identity was not verified species by species, which is the crux of the published rebuttal arguing that misidentification within the trade confounded the attribution. It is included here because Tinospora sinensis is a documented substitute in exactly that trade channel, so the signal attaches to the category a Kuan Jin Teng buyer may be sourcing from.
Historical Texts
Ben Cao Qiu Yuan
Qing dynasty, 1848Ling Nan Cai Yao Lu
Republican period, 1932Botanical fixing of the drug source in the mid-twentieth century, formalised in Guangxi Zhong Shou Yi Yao Yong Zhi Wu
Modern, 1959References
- Liang Y, Guo SB, Xu C, Su YY, Su CY, Zhang W, Liu B. A Review on Traditional Uses, Phytochemistry, Pharmacology and Clinical Application of Tinospora sinensis (Lour.) Merr . Chemistry and Biodiversity (2024) [DOI]
- Chi S, She G, Han D, Wang W, Liu Z, Liu B. Genus Tinospora: Ethnopharmacology, Phytochemistry, and Pharmacology . Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2016) [DOI]
- Huang WT, Tu CY, Wang FY, Huang ST. Literature review of liver injury induced by Tinospora crispa associated with two cases of acute fulminant hepatitis . Complementary Therapies in Medicine (2019) [DOI]
- Balkrishna A, Bhattacharya K, Sinha S, Dev R, Srivastava J, Haldar S, Varshney A. Tinospora cordifolia-associated hepatotoxicity has been scientifically misconstrued, in haste . Hepatology Communications (2022) [DOI]
- Ao R, Li MH, Xiao ZN, Tang XL, Zhang JS, Zhang H. Sesquiterpenes from Tinospora sinensis and their chemotaxonomic significance . Biochemical Systematics and Ecology (2024) [DOI]
- Chan YY, Wang CY, Hwang TL, Juang SH, Hung HY, Kuo PC, Chen PJ, Wu TS. The Constituents of the Stems of Cissus assamica and Their Bioactivities . Molecules (2018) [DOI]
- Zhang Y, Shi Q, Shi P, Zhang W, Cheng Y. Characterization of isoquinoline alkaloids, diterpenoids and steroids in the Chinese herb Jin-Guo-Lan (Tinospora sagittata and Tinospora capillipes) by high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization with multistage mass spectrometry . Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry (2006) [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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