J Korean Med Assoc Search

CLOSE


J Korean Med Assoc > Volume 48(4); 2005 > Article
Baek: Medicinal Herbs can Cause Cardiovascular Side Effects

Abstract

The concerns about the safety issues of medicinal herbs are increasing. There are typical medicinal herbs that affect the cardiovascular system such as digitalis and aconitium. Digitalis is one of the main drugs in use to manage a heart disease under the controlled safety and effectiveness. On the contrary, the Aconitium plant's roots are potentially poisonous and can cause serious complex ventricular arrhythmias and fatalities due to their low safety margin. However, the herb has been used in traditional Chinese medicine mainly to treat musculoskeletal disorders, without any safety control. Natural products including herbs derived from plants are not always safe. The use of medicinal herbs needs medical validation in terms of their safety and effectiveness through a scientific inspection and strict standardization for the quality control. Therefore it is urgent to initiate a nation-wide reporting system to timely document any side effects from medicinal herbs adversely affecting the public health.

References

1. In: Hardman JG, Limbird LE, editor. Goodman and Gillman's The pharmacological basis of therapeutics 2001;10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. 916-922.

2. Local Heroes. BBC2 TV Programme 1996.

6. Chan TY, Tomlinson B, Crichley JA. Aconitine poisoning following the ingestine of Chinese herbal medicines: A report of eight cases. Aust NZ J Med 1993;23:268-271.

10. Ellenhorn MJ, Barceloux DG. Medical toxicology 1991;Elsevier Science Publishing Company. 1242.

16. Sato H, Yamada C, Konno C, Ohizumi Y, Endo K, Hikino H. Pharmacological activities of aconitine alkaloids. Tohoku J exp Med 1979;128:175-187.

17. Hsu HY, Chen YP, Shen SJ, Hsu CS, Chen CC, Chang HC. Oriental Materia Medica: a concise guide 1986;California: Oriental Healing Arts Institute. 368-371.

18. Bisset NG. Arrow posionis in China. Part II. Aconitum-botany, chemistry and pharmacology. J Ethinopharmacol 1981;4:247-336.

19. Pharmacopocia Committee. Pharmacopocia of the people's republic of China 1990;Beijing: People's health publishing house and chemical technology press. 26-28. 211-213.

20. Pepper K, Trautwein W. The effect of aconitine on the membrane current in cardiac muscle. Pflugers Arch Gesamte Physiol Menschen Tiere 1967;296:328-336.

21. But PPH, Tai YT, Young KY. The three fetal cases of herbal aconite poisoning. Vet Hum Toxicol 1994;36:212-215.

22. Tai YT, But PPH, Young K, Lau CP. Cardiotoxicity after accidental herb induced aconite poisoning. Lancet 1992;340:1254-1256.

23. Lu HR, De Clerck F. R 56 865, a Na+/Ca2+-overload inhibitor, protects against aconitine induced cardiac arrythmias in vivo. J Cardiovasc Pharmacol 1993;22:120-125.

24. Tsukada K, Akisuki S, Matsuoka Y, Irimajiri S. A case of aconitine poisoning acompanied by bidirectional ventricular tachycardia treated with lidocaine. Kokyu To Junkan 1992;40:1003-1006.

25. Muroi M, Kimura I, Kimura M. Blocking effects of hypoaconite and aconitine of nerve action potential in phrenic nerve diaphragm muscles of mice. Neuropharmacology 1990;29:567-572.

26. Cranefield PF, Arnonson RS. Cardiac arrhythmias: The role of triggered activity and other mechanism 1998;New York: Futura Publishing Company. 388.

27. Winslow E. Hemodynamic and arrhythmogenic effect of aconitine applied to the left atria of anesthetized cats: effects of Amiodarone and atropine. J cardiovasc Pharmacol 1981;3:87-100.

28. Kimura I, Takada M, Nojima H, Kimura M. Aconitine, a main component of aconite, increases spontaneous acetylcholine release from the frontal cerebral cortex of freely moving rats. Biol Pharm Bull 1996;19:1440-1442.

29. Christopher H, Linden , Frederick H, Loverjoy Jr. Principle of Internal medicine 1999;2:2523-2529.

30. Tai YT, Lau CP, But PP, Fong PC, Li JP. Bidrectional tachycardia indu-ed by herbal aconitine poisoning. Pacing Clin Electrophysiol 1992;15:831-839.

31. Kolew ST, Leman P, Kite GC, Stevenson PG, Shaw D, Murray VSG. Toxicity following accidental ingestion of Aconitum containing Chinese remedy. Hum Exp Toxicol 1996;15:839-842.

32. Fatorich DM. Aconite: A lethal Chinese herb. Ann Emerg Med 1992;21:309-311.



ABOUT
ARTICLE CATEGORY

Browse all articles >

ARCHIVES
FOR CONTRIBUTORS
Editorial Office
37 Ichon-ro 46-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
Tel: +82-2-6350-6562    Fax: +82-2-792-5208    E-mail: jkmamaster@gmail.com                

Copyright © 2024 by Korean Medical Association.

Developed in M2PI

Close layer
prev next