Suan Jiang
StarPhysalis alkekengi L. var. franchetii (Mast.) Makino
Traditionally used for
- Nose & throat
- Cough & breathing
- Colds & fever
- Digestion
- Bowel health
- Urinary & fluids
- Mood & calm
- Liver & jaundice
Cautions & contraindications
- Pregnancy
☯ TCM Properties
Clear Heat, detoxifies, benefit the throat and transforms Phlegm; Clears fevers and promotes diuresis; Calms the Shen, clears vision and tonifies Qi
Traditional Chinese Uses
Suan Jiang is the fruit and persistent papery calyx (and sometimes whole plant) of Physalis alkekengi var. franchetii, the Chinese lantern plant, known as Jin Deng Long when the calyx is used. Bitter, sour and cold, entering the Heart and Lung channels, it clears Heat and resolves toxicity, benefits the throat, and transforms Phlegm; it also promotes urination to drain Damp-Heat via painful urinary dribbling (lin) patterns.
Its classic application is Heat-toxin sore, swollen and painful throat, hoarseness, cough with thick phlegm, mumps, and Heat-type dysuria; it is also used for jaundice and dysentery. It is decocted or the calyx-fruit powdered for the throat, and modern Suan Jiang and Jin Deng Long preparations treat suppurative tonsillitis and pharyngitis. Use cautiously in pregnancy and Spleen-Stomach cold-deficiency.
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Physalis alkekengi L. (Chinese lantern plant, strawberry-groundcherry) is a herbaceous perennial in the Solanaceae, 40-80 cm tall, with creeping rhizomes giving rise to erect, slightly angled, sparsely hairy stems. Leaves are alternate or paired at the upper nodes, broadly ovate to rhomboid, 5-15 cm long, with entire to coarsely sinuate-dentate margins, an acute apex, and a wedge-shaped to truncate base. Solitary flowers borne in the leaf axils are nodding, with a white, broadly campanulate, 5-lobed corolla 1-2 cm across. As the fruit develops, the calyx enlarges into the distinctive papery, ovoid, bright orange-red "lantern" 3-5 cm long that encloses a single globose, smooth, scarlet berry. Native to Eurasia from central Europe across temperate Asia to Japan; naturalised widely.
Active Constituents
Physalin B
13,14-seco-16,24-cycloergostane steroid (physalin)Concentration: roughly 30.75-749.13 micrograms per gram of fruit and calyx, varying widely with provenance
One of the principal B-type physalins of the drug. Physalins of this class carry most of the cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory activity reported for the plant and are also the constituents responsible for its immunosuppressive effects in cell assays.
Physalin D
13,14-seco-16,24-cycloergostane steroid (physalin)Concentration: about 0.2028-0.7880 percent of the calyx and 0.0259-0.0992 percent of the fruit
Quantitatively the dominant physalin of the calyx drug, present roughly an order of magnitude higher there than in the fruit. It is used as a chemical marker for the quality of the calyx material.
Physalin A
13,14-seco-16,24-cycloergostane steroid (physalin)An A-type physalin, distinguished from B-type physalins by the ether bridge arrangement at C-14 and C-27. It is a routine constituent of the calyx and contributes to the cytotoxic profile of physalin-rich fractions.
Physalin O
13,14-seco-16,24-cycloergostane steroid (physalin)Concentration: about 1.04-3.12 mg per gram across sampled habitats
A further physalin quantified in provenance comparisons of the drug. Content varies several-fold between growing regions, which is one reason batch-to-batch potency of this herb is unreliable.
Luteolin 7-O-beta-D-glucoside (luteoloside)
Flavone glycosideConcentration: the Chinese Pharmacopoeia sets a minimum of 0.10 percent for the calyx drug
The official assay marker for the calyx-and-fruit drug. It is the flavonoid most often invoked for the anti-inflammatory and throat-soothing action, and its assay limit is the practical way a practitioner can judge whether a batch meets the monograph.
Luteolin
FlavoneThe aglycone of luteoloside. Present at low levels in the drug and poorly absorbed, with minimal plasma concentrations detected in pharmacokinetic work, so its contribution to systemic effects is likely small relative to the glycoside pool.
Withanolides
Withanolide steroidPhysalins are biosynthetically derived from withanolides, and unmodified withanolides accompany them. Around sixty steroids in total have been characterised from the species; these two classes account for most of them.
Polysaccharides
PolysaccharideWater-soluble polysaccharides of the fruit and calyx, associated in review literature with immunomodulating and antioxidant activity. They are not standardised in any pharmacopoeial assay for this drug.
Organic acids (citric, malic, tartaric and ascorbic acids)
Organic acidThese acids give the fruit its sourness and hence the name Suan Jiang, literally sour juice. They have no specific attributed pharmacology in this drug.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Pregnancy, and oxytocics or tocolytics used in pregnancy
An aqueous extract of Physalis alkekengi fruit given to female rats produced 100 percent diestrus, cut the number of pups born by 96 percent, reduced plasma progesterone by 44 percent and inhibited uterine creatine kinase BB-isozyme activity in a time-dependent manner from 55 to 82 percent, with biochemical and structural changes in the endometrium at the time of implantation. Extract given on days 1 to 5 of pregnancy reduced implantation sites and neonate number and weight. The Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing itself records the herb for difficult delivery, which is consistent with a uterine-stimulant tradition. This is an established contraindication, not a cautious one.
Clinical note: Do not prescribe to a pregnant patient or to a patient attempting conception. If a patient of childbearing potential is taking it, confirm she is not pregnant before continuing, and stop it if pregnancy is planned.
Ciclosporin, tacrolimus, azathioprine and other immunosuppressants
Physalins are repeatedly reported as immunosuppressive in cell-based assays, and immunosuppression is listed among the principal documented activities of the plant in current reviews. No human pharmacokinetic or immunological study of the drug has been published, so any additive effect with a prescribed immunosuppressant is inference from in vitro pharmacology.
Clinical note: Avoid in transplant recipients and in patients on biologics for autoimmune disease unless the herb is clearly needed and immune function is being monitored anyway.
Insulin, sulfonylureas and other glucose-lowering drugs
Anti-diabetic activity is one of the pharmacological effects consistently reported for extracts of this variety in in vitro and animal work. No clinical trial has quantified the effect in patients, and no dose-response relationship for a decoction is known.
Clinical note: Monitor capillary glucose on starting or stopping the herb in a treated diabetic patient.
Jin Deng Long (calyx drug) versus the root and rhizome - part substitution
The pharmacopoeial drug from this plant is Physalis Calyx seu Fructus, the persistent calyx with the enclosed fruit, marketed as Jin Deng Long, and essentially all the quantitative chemistry and the assay limit for luteoloside refer to that material. Physalin D content differs roughly ten-fold between calyx and fruit alone, so a root or whole-herb preparation cannot be assumed to match a calyx monograph. The record in this database is labelled Radix et Rhizoma Physalitis while the pinyin Suan Jiang classically covers the whole herb.
Clinical note: Establish which plant part your supplier has sent before dosing to a calyx-based reference range, and treat the uterine-stimulant contraindication as applying to any part of the plant.
Evidence Tier
Limited evidence · 2 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
2
1 verified · 1 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
Effects of an aqueous extract of Physalis alkekengi fruit on estrus cycle, reproduction and uterine creatine kinase BB-isozyme in rats
Intraperitoneal aqueous extract of Physalis alkekengi fruit produced 100 percent diestrus in female rats. The number of pups born fell by 96 percent, plasma progesterone fell by 44 percent, and uterine creatine kinase BB-isozyme activity was inhibited in a time-dependent way from 55 to 82 percent. Endometrial changes were most marked around the time of implantation on day 5. This is the primary experimental basis for treating the plant as contraindicated in pregnancy.
Six new physalins from Physalis alkekengi var. franchetii and their cytotoxicity and antibacterial activity
Six new physalin steroids together with twenty known physalins were isolated from the calyces of Physalis alkekengi var. franchetii. Three of the known compounds were cytotoxic against HL-60, SMMC-7721, A-549, MCF-7 and SW-480 cell lines with IC50 < 5 uM, and three showed strong activity against Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli. The work was done on the correct variety and on the calyx, the part that constitutes the official drug.
Historical Texts
Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing
Han dynastyBen Cao Gang Mu
Ming dynastyReferences
- Ai-Ling Li; Bang-Jiao Chen; Guo-Hui Li; Ming-Xing Zhou; Yan-Ru Li; Dong-Mei Ren; Hong-Xiang Lou; Xiao-Ning Wang; Tao Shen. Physalis alkekengi L. var. franchetii (Mast.) Makino: An ethnomedical, phytochemical and pharmacological review . Journal of Ethnopharmacology (2018) [DOI]
- Jing Yang; Yanping Sun; Feng Cao; Bingyou Yang; Haixue Kuang. Natural Products from Physalis alkekengi L. var. franchetii (Mast.) Makino: A Review on Their Structural Analysis, Quality Control, Pharmacology, and Pharmacokinetics . Molecules (2022) [DOI]
- Yiru Liu; Xu Wang; Chenxue Li; Dahai Yu; Bing Tian; Wenlan Li; Zhiwei Sun. Research progress on the chemical components and pharmacological effects of Physalis alkekengi L. var. franchetii (Mast.) Makino . Heliyon (2023) [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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