Nan Sha Shen
StarAdenophora tetraphylla (Thunb.) Fisch.
Traditionally used for
- Nose & throat
- Cough & breathing
- Colds & fever
- Digestion
☯ TCM Properties
Clears Lung Heat and Generates Fluids; Benefits the Stomach and Generates Fluids; Resolves Phlegm; Tonifies Qi
Traditional Chinese Uses
Nan Sha Shen (adenophora root, south glehnia root) is a cool herb that nourishes Lung and Stomach Yin, clears mild Heat, generates Body Fluids, and has a mild Phlegm-transforming action — distinguishing it from Bei Sha Shen (northern variant). It is used for dry cough, parched throat and mouth, poor appetite, and thirst from Lung or Stomach Yin deficiency, particularly following febrile illness or during dry autumn conditions. Its additional Qi-tonifying and Phlegm-dissolving properties give it a slightly broader action than its northern relative.
Pharmacological Effects
- Immunologic: A. stricta root decoction (0.5 g/kg i.p., mice) raised peripheral lymphocyte and T-cell counts and macrophage phagocytosis, but increased spleen weight while lowering splenic lymphocytes/T cells.
- Other effects: A 1% macerate increased isolated toad heart beat amplitude by over 50%; a 1:2 macerate inhibited Microsporum audouini and other skin fungi in vitro.
Source: Zhu YP. Chinese Materia Medica: Chemistry, Pharmacology and Applications. Harwood Academic, 1998, p. 627.
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Adenophora tetraphylla, the southern ladybell, is a perennial herb of the Campanulaceae family growing 60 to 130 cm tall from a stout, fleshy, white to pale yellow taproot that exudes a milky latex when cut. Stems are erect, slender, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, and usually unbranched below the inflorescence. Leaves are arranged in whorls of three to six (typically four, giving the species its name), narrowly ovate to lanceolate, 3 to 10 cm long, with finely serrate margins. The inflorescence is an open terminal panicle of nodding bell-shaped flowers; each flower has a pale blue to violet five-lobed corolla 1.5 to 2 cm long and an exserted style. The fruit is an inverted-conical capsule that opens by basal pores. It grows in mountain grasslands and open forests across East Asia.
Active Constituents
Adeterpenoids A-G
TriterpenoidsSeven previously undescribed triterpenoids isolated from a 70% ethanol extract of the root, alongside eight known co-isolates. In the isolating study several of them inhibited the LN229 human glioma line in cell culture. There are no animal or human data for any of these compounds, and no pharmacopoeial assay uses them.
Adenophorae root polysaccharides
Water-soluble heteropolysaccharidesBuilt from arabinose, galacturonic acid, galactose and glucose with smaller amounts of xylose, rhamnose, mannose and glucuronic acid. In HepG2 hepatocytes a purified fraction raised glucose consumption to about 76% at 250 micrograms/mL and promoted cell proliferation without cytotoxicity. Cell-culture work only; this is the usual pharmacological argument offered for the root's tonic reputation, not evidence of a clinical effect.
Pectins WATP-A2b and WATP-A3b
Pectic polysaccharides (homogalacturonan, rhamnogalacturonan I and rhamnogalacturonan II domains)Concentration: isolated fractions of roughly 22.5 kDa and 49.8 kDa respectively
Acidic pectins differing in the proportion of their structural domains. The larger fraction, richer in galacturonic acid and in rhamnogalacturonan I, was the more active radical scavenger of the two in vitro. No in vivo data.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Glehnia littoralis root (Bei Sha Shen), a documented substitute and adulterant
Nan Sha Shen (Adenophora, Campanulaceae) and Bei Sha Shen (Glehnia littoralis, Apiaceae) are separate drugs that share the older name Sha Shen and are hard to tell apart once dried and processed. DNA work shows the confusion runs in both directions. 5S-rRNA spacer sequencing was developed for Radix Adenophorae precisely because twelve species and varieties of Adenophora and Glehnia circulate as substitutes, with Adenophora hunanensis and Glehnia littoralis the commonest; conversely, an ITS2 barcoding survey of commercial Beishashen lists Adenophora tetraphylla and Adenophora stricta among the seven usual adulterants of Glehniae Radix. The clinical consequence is chemical: Glehnia root is a coumarin-bearing Apiaceae drug, a class not reported from Adenophora, so a substituted batch carries photosensitising and CYP-inhibiting constituents that the prescriber never intended.
Clinical note: Buy on the binomial, not on the name Sha Shen, and prefer suppliers who can show species authentication. Note also that Adenophora tetraphylla (Thunb.) Fisch. is widely treated as a synonym of Adenophora triphylla (Thunb.) A.DC., so certificates and literature may use either name for the same plant; that is a nomenclatural variant, not a substitution.
Veratrum nigrum root (Li Lu)
The classical eighteen-antagonisms rhyme places the shen drugs, Nan Sha Shen included, in opposition to Li Lu, and Chinese materia medica carry the caution forward. No pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic study of the pair exists, so the interaction itself is untested. The reason to respect the rule is the second drug: Veratrum steroidal alkaloids have a very narrow margin and cause vomiting, bradycardia and hypotension, and the herb is effectively obsolete in modern internal practice.
Clinical note: Do not combine. In practice the question seldom arises because Li Lu is no longer prescribed internally.
Dosage
| Form | Amount | Frequency | Duration | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decoction | 9–15 g | Daily | — | — | 中国药典 2020 【用法与用量】9～15g。 【注意】不宜与藜芦同用。 【性味与归经】甘，微寒。归肺、胃经。 — Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2020, quoted verbatim; route and cautions preserved. Replaces a cleared category-filler value. |
Evidence Tier
Moderate evidence · 3 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
3
0 verified · 3 unverified
Show 3 studies
- Seven new triterpenoids from the roots of Adenophora tetraphylla (Thub.) Fisch
- Optimization of Extraction Conditions for Water-Soluble Polysaccharides from the Roots of Adenophora tetraphylla (Thunb.) Fisch. and Its Effects on Glucose Consumption on HepG2 Cells
- Exploring the Structural Characteristics and Antioxidant Capacity of Pectins from Adenophora tetraphylla (Thunb.) Fisch.
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
Seven new triterpenoids from the roots of Adenophora tetraphylla (Thub.) Fisch
Isolated seven new triterpenoids (Adeterpenoids A-G) plus eight known compounds from the 70% ethanol extract of Adenophora tetraphylla roots and screened them against the LN229 human glioma cell line. Five of the fifteen compounds significantly inhibited LN229 cells. Phytochemistry and cytotoxicity screening only; no therapeutic claim follows from it.
Optimization of Extraction Conditions for Water-Soluble Polysaccharides from the Roots of Adenophora tetraphylla (Thunb.) Fisch. and Its Effects on Glucose Consumption on HepG2 Cells
Optimised aqueous extraction of Adenophora root polysaccharides by response surface methodology, then tested them on HepG2 hepatocytes. The fraction promoted cell proliferation across 50 to 800 micrograms/mL and raised glucose consumption to about 76% at 250 micrograms/mL with no cytotoxicity. The authors present this as a possible antidiabetic lead; it is cell-culture data and has not been taken into animals or patients.
Exploring the Structural Characteristics and Antioxidant Capacity of Pectins from Adenophora tetraphylla (Thunb.) Fisch.
Purified two pectins from the root, WATP-A2b (22.5 kDa) and WATP-A3b (49.8 kDa), and characterised their homogalacturonan and rhamnogalacturonan domains. WATP-A3b, with the higher galacturonic acid content and a substantial rhamnogalacturonan I domain, scavenged all three radical species tested most effectively. Structure-activity work in vitro.
⚠ Safety & Contraindications
Contraindications
It should not be used together with Radix et Rhizoma Veratri Nigri ( li lu ). Its use is prohibited in patients with cough due to wind-cold.
Source: Xi S, Gong Y. Essentials of Chinese Materia Medica and Medical Formulas. Academic Press/Elsevier, 2017, pp. 368–376.
⚠ 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.
Incompatibilities (十八反 / 十九畏)
- 十八反: Li Lu × Sha Shen — avoid combining with Li Lu / Veratrum
Historical Texts
Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing
Han dynastyBen Cao Gang Mu
Ming dynasty (1596)References
- Zhao K. J.; Dong T. T. X.; Cui X. M.; Tu P. F.; Tsim K. W. K.. Genetic Distinction of Radix Adenophorae From Its Adulterants by the DNA Sequence of 5S-rRNA Spacer Domains . The American Journal of Chinese Medicine (2003) [DOI]
- Zhu Xunzhi; Zhang Yuxi; Liu Xia; Hou Dianyun; Gao Ting. Authentication of commercial processed Glehniae Radix (Beishashen) by DNA barcodes . Chinese Medicine (2015) [DOI]
- Sharma Neha; Lee Hae-Jeung. Phytoconstituents and biofunctional attributes of Adenophora triphylla: A review . Journal of Functional Foods (2026) [DOI]
- Kuang Hai-Xue; Shao Chun-Jie; Kasai Ryoji; Ohtani Kazuhiro; Tian Zhen-Kun; Xu Jing-Da; Tanaka Osamu. Phenolic Glycosides from Roots of Adenophora tetraphylla Collected in Heilongjiang, China. . Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin (1991) [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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