Scutellaria baicalensis explained

Scutellaria baicalensis, with the common name Baikal skullcap or Chinese skullcap, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae.

Distribution

The plant is native to China, Korea, Mongolia, and Russia in the Russian Far East and Siberia.

Traditional Chinese medicine

It is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, where it has the name huángqín .^[1] As a Chinese traditional medicine, huang qin usually refers to the dried root of S. baicalensis Georgi, S. viscidula Bge., S. amoena C.H. Wright, and S. ikoninkovii Ju.

Phytochemicals

Several phytochemicals have been isolated from the root; baicalein, baicalin, wogonin, norwogonin, oroxylin A^[2] and β-sitosterol are the major ones.^[3]

Names

As the term 'skullcap' is applied to over 200 plant varieties, the scientific name is used. Sometimes, Scutellaria lateriflora (North American skullcap) is mistaken for S. baicalensis.

Adverse effects

There have been several reports and small case series of acute liver injury with jaundice arising 1 to 3 months after starting herbal or dietary supplements containing S. baicalensis.^[4]

See also

• Piper methysticum (kava), another anxiolytic GABAergic plant
• Valeriana officinalis (valerian), a sedative GABAergic plant

External links

• Scutellaria baicalensis List of Chemicals (Dr. Duke's Databases)
• Scutellaria baicalensis (Plants for a Future)

Notes and References

1. Zhang XW . Li WF . Li WW . Ren KH . Fan CM . Chen YY . Shen YL . Protective effects of the aqueous extract of Scutellaria baicalensis against acrolein-induced oxidative stress in cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells . Pharm Biol . 2011 . 49 . 3 . 256–261 . 10.3109/13880209.2010.501803 . 20979538. free .
2. Isolation and purification of baicalein, wogonin and oroxylin A from the medicinal plant Scutellaria baicalensis by high-speed counter-current chromatography. Hua-Bin Li and Feng Chen, Journal of Chromatography A, 13 May 2005, Volume 1074, Issues 1–2, pages 107–110,
3. Yang LX, Liu D, Feng XF, Cui SL, Yang JY, Tang XJ, He XR, Liu JF, Hu SL . [Determination of flavone for Scutellaria baicalensis from different areas by HPLC] . zh . Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi . 27 . 3 . 166–70 . 2002 . 12774393 .
4. LiverTox: Clinical and Research Information on Drug-Induced Liver Injury . . 2012 . 31644066 . 27 June 2022.