Zao Jiao Ci
StarGleditsia sinensis Lam.
Traditionally used for
- Pain & joints
- Skin
Cautions & contraindications
- Pregnancy
☯ TCM Properties
Reduces Swelling and Draws Out Toxins; Expels Pus; Expels Parasites; Disperses Swelling and Dissipates Nodules; Dispels Wind and searches the collaterals
Traditional Chinese Uses
Zao Jiao Ci (honeylocust spine) is a warm, sharp herb used to draw out and promote the discharge of pus-containing abscesses and carbuncles in the suppurative stage. It is one of the most important herbs for facilitating the "ripening" and rupture of skin infections that have not yet opened, accelerating drainage and healing. It is also used for Wind-Damp bi syndrome and skin conditions involving Wind. Due to its strongly dispersing action, it is contraindicated in pregnancy and in those who are constitutionally weak.
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
Gleditsia sinensis, the Chinese honey locust, is a deciduous tree of the family Fabaceae, native to central and eastern China, reaching 15 to 30 meters tall with a broad crown. The trunk and lower branches bear striking, stout, often branched thorns up to 16 cm long, which are modified woody stems arising from the bark; these are the part used as Zao Jiao Ci. The bark is grayish-brown and fissured. Leaves are once or twice pinnately compound, with 6 to 14 pairs of small, oblong leaflets. Inconspicuous greenish-white flowers are borne in slender axillary racemes in spring, followed by long, flat, leathery, dark brown pods that twist at maturity and contain hard, oily seeds. The thorns are collected year-round, sliced obliquely, and dried for medicinal use.
Active Constituents
Fisetin
FlavonolOne of the flavonoids repeatedly recovered from the thorn and one of the components most often implicated in its reported antitumour and anti-inflammatory activity. It is a well-studied flavonol in its own right, so activity attributed to it should not be read as activity demonstrated for the whole drug.
Fustin
DihydroflavonolThe dihydro counterpart of fisetin, reported among the flavonoid constituents of Gleditsiae Spina. It commonly accompanies fisetin in plants of this chemotype.
Taxifolin (dihydroquercetin)
DihydroflavonolReported from the thorn as the levorotatory form. It contributes to the antioxidant capacity of the crude extract.
Quercetin
FlavonolA consistently reported flavonol of the thorn. Like fisetin it is pharmacologically active in many assays, which makes flavonoid-based mechanistic claims about Zao Jiao Ci hard to attribute specifically to this drug rather than to a ubiquitous constituent.
Eriodictyol
FlavanoneListed among the flavonoid constituents of the thorn. No activity has been demonstrated for it specifically in the context of this drug.
Epicatechin
Flavan-3-olRecovered from the thorn in phytochemical surveys of Spina Gleditsiae. It contributes to the astringency and antioxidant behaviour of aqueous and ethanolic extracts.
Betulinic acid and alphitolic acid
Lupane-type triterpenoidsConcentration: reported qualitatively; no quantitative figures published for the thorn
Lupane triterpenes isolated from the thorn, together with 3-O-trans-p-coumaroyl alphitolic acid. Betulinic acid is a known cytotoxic triterpene and is one plausible contributor to the antitumour activity reported for crude thorn extracts.
Stigmast-4-ene-3,6-dione, beta-sitosterol and stigmasterol
Phytosterols and oxidised sterolsThe sterol fraction of the thorn. Stigmast-4-ene-3,6-dione is an oxidised sterol repeatedly isolated from this drug.
Oleanane-type triterpenoid saponins
Triterpenoid saponinsConcentration: present in the thorn but far less abundant than in the pod of the same plant
Saponins with reported activity against breast cancer cell lines have been isolated from the thorns. They matter clinically mainly because they are the chemical class that makes the pod of the same plant toxic, and their presence in the thorn is the reason the two organs are sometimes wrongly treated as interchangeable.
Ellagic acid glycosides and phenolic acids
PhenolicsA phenolic fraction reported from the thorn. It is not linked to any specific pharmacological claim for the drug.
Cytochalasin H
Cytochalasan mycotoxin (fungal metabolite, not a plant constituent)Activity-guided fractionation of an ethanol extract of the thorn identified cytochalasin H as the potent antiangiogenic constituent: it suppressed growth and mobility of human umbilical vein endothelial cells and inhibited new vessel formation in vivo, partly by reducing endothelin-1. It is not made by the plant. It originates from the endophytic fungus Chaetomium globosum that naturally populates Gleditsia sinensis, so its presence and amount will vary with the batch and with storage.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Zao Jiao / Zhu Ya Zao (Fructus Gleditsiae, the pod of Gleditsia sinensis)
The thorn and the pod are two different drugs from the same tree and are not interchangeable. The pod carries the gleditsia saponins in quantity, and these are the constituents responsible for its irritant and haemolytic behaviour and for its restricted dose and internal-use cautions; their content in the fruit has been quantified by HPLC. The thorn contains saponins only as a minor fraction and is dominated by flavonoids, triterpenes and sterols. Because Zao Jiao and Zao Jiao Ci sit adjacent in the pharmacy and share a pinyin stem, misdispensing runs in both directions.
Clinical note: Verify that the material supplied is the woody branched thorn, not fragments of pod. A prescription for Zao Jiao Ci must never be filled with Zao Jiao, and the pod's much lower ceiling dose and internal-use restrictions do not transfer to the thorn.
Use during pregnancy
Ben Cao Jing Shu states plainly that Zao Jiao Ci is prohibited once an abscess has already ulcerated and that pregnant women should avoid it, a caution repeated in the standard materia medica ever since on the grounds of its blood-invigorating and piercing action. There is no reproductive toxicology study of the thorn to support or refute this, so the evidence remains traditional rather than experimental.
Clinical note: Do not prescribe Zao Jiao Ci in pregnancy. Also observe the second half of the classical rule: once a sore has ruptured and is discharging, the drug is no longer indicated.
Bevacizumab and other anti-angiogenic anticancer drugs
Ethanol extract of the thorn is antiangiogenic in endothelial cell and in vivo vessel-formation assays, an activity traced to cytochalasin H and mediated partly by reduced endothelin-1 expression. Water extract also inhibits collagen-based migration of PC3 prostate cancer cells and PDGF-induced vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation. Nothing about combined exposure in patients has been studied, and there is no pharmacokinetic data.
Clinical note: No documented clinical interaction. Worth flagging only for an oncology patient on an angiogenesis inhibitor who is also taking long-term thorn decoctions, particularly around surgery.
Cytochalasin H contamination from the endophyte Chaetomium globosum
The most potent antiangiogenic constituent isolated from ethanol extract of Gleditsia sinensis thorns turned out to be cytochalasin H, a secondary metabolite of the endophytic fungus Chaetomium globosum rather than of the plant. Cytochalasins bind actin and disrupt the cytoskeleton. Because the compound depends on fungal colonisation, its concentration is not a stable property of the drug and is not covered by any flavonoid- or saponin-based quality specification.
Clinical note: Prefer well-dried, well-stored material and reject visibly mouldy thorns. Bear in mind that activity reported for ethanol extracts of this drug may not be reproducible between batches for this reason.
Dosage
| Form | Amount | Frequency | Duration | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decoction | 3–10 g | Daily | — | — | 中国药典 2020 【用法与用量】3～10g。外用适量，醋蒸取汁涂患处。 【性味与归经】辛，温。归肝、胃经。 — Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2020, quoted verbatim; route and cautions preserved. Replaces a cleared category-filler value. |
Dui Yao — Herb Pairs
The classical two-herb combinations this herb appears in, each with an action neither herb has alone.
Both penetrating and dispersing, the pair promotes the discharge of pus and ruptures abscesses that have formed pus but not yet burst.
Contraindicated once an abscess has ruptured and in pregnancy. Pangolin scale is from a protected species and was removed from the 2020 Chinese Pharmacopoeia; include for historical reference.
Core pair of a classical formula — Tou Nong San, Wai Ke Zheng Zong (Chen Shigong)
Evidence Tier
Moderate evidence · 4 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
4
1 verified · 3 unverified
Show 4 studies
- Inhibitory effects of the ethanol extract of Gleditsia sinensis thorns on human colon cancer HCT116 cells in vitro and in vivo
- Cytochalasin H, an Active Anti-angiogenic Constituent of the Ethanol Extract of Gleditsia sinensis Thorns
- Gleditsia sinensis Thorn Attenuates the Collagen-Based Migration of PC3 Prostate Cancer Cells through the Suppression of α2β1 Integrin Expression
- Gleditsia sinensis thorn extract inhibits the proliferation and migration of PDGF-induced vascular smooth muscle cells
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
Inhibitory effects of the ethanol extract of Gleditsia sinensis thorns on human colon cancer HCT116 cells in vitro and in vivo
Ethanol extract of Gleditsia sinensis thorns inhibited HCT116 colon cancer cell growth with G2/M arrest at an IC50 of 600 microgram/mL, induced p27 and downregulated cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases, and activated ERK, p38 and JNK, with only ERK inhibition reversing the effect. It also blocked TNF-alpha-induced MMP-9 expression by reducing AP-1 and NF-kappaB transcriptional activity, and reduced tumour size in an HCT116 xenograft.
Cytochalasin H, an Active Anti-angiogenic Constituent of the Ethanol Extract of Gleditsia sinensis Thorns
Activity-guided fractionation of ethanol extract of the thorns using human umbilical vein endothelial cells identified cytochalasin H as the potent antiangiogenic constituent. It suppressed endothelial cell growth and mobility in vitro and inhibited pro-angiogenic-protein-induced vessel formation in vivo, partly by reducing endothelin-1. The authors trace the compound to the endophytic fungus Chaetomium globosum populating the plant, not to the plant itself.
Gleditsia sinensis Thorn Attenuates the Collagen-Based Migration of PC3 Prostate Cancer Cells through the Suppression of α2β1 Integrin Expression
Non-toxic concentrations of a water extract of the thorn did not block serum-directed migration of PC3 prostate cancer cells but did inhibit collagen-directed migration and adhesion, by suppressing alpha2 integrin expression once cells adhered to collagen and reducing focal adhesion kinase phosphorylation. Oral dosing at 25 mg/kg/day reduced PC3 xenograft tumour size.
Gleditsia sinensis thorn extract inhibits the proliferation and migration of PDGF-induced vascular smooth muscle cells
Thorn extract inhibited proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells stimulated with platelet-derived growth factor. The interest is vascular rather than oncological, and the work is confined to cultured cells.
Historical Texts
Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing
Han dynastyBen Cao Tu Jing
Song dynastyBen Cao Yan Yi Bu Yi
Yuan dynastyBen Cao Jing Shu
Ming dynastyReferences
- Gao J; Yang X; Yin W. From Traditional Usage to Pharmacological Evidence: A Systematic Mini‐Review of Spina Gleditsiae . Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2016) [DOI]
- Bai J; Jing X; Yang Y; Wang X; Feng Y; Ge F; Li J; Yao M. Comprehensive profiling of chemical composition of Gleditsiae spina using ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry . Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry (2023) [DOI]
- Yu JQ; Xian YX; Geng YL; Wang DJ; Zhou HL; Wang X. Anti-liver cancer constituents from the thorns of Gleditsia sinensis . Phytochemistry Letters (2015) [DOI]
- Yu JQ; Li G; Mu Y; Zhou HL; Wang X; Yang P. Anti-breast cancer triterpenoid saponins from the thorns of Gleditsia sinensis . Natural Product Research (2018) [DOI]
- Lian XY; Zhang Z. Quantitive analysis of gleditsia saponins in the fruits of Gleditsia sinensis Lam. by high performance liquid chromatography . Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis (2013) [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 Zao Jiao Ci.
No notes yet.