[Research progress and discussion on traditional Chinese medicine properties of Kaempferia parviflora].

ABSTRACT

Kaempferiae Parviflorae Rhizoma is the dried rhizome of Kaempferia parviflora in Zingiberaceae. It is originated and widely distributed in Thailand and other tropical and subtropical regions, where it has been used as food and medicine for thousands of years. K. parviflora is also planted in Yunnan and other places of China, but its traditional Chinese medicine properties are not clear, which greatly limits its compatibility with traditional Chinese medicines. In this article, the English and Chinese literatures of K. parviflora were searched from Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, CNKI, Wanfang, and VIP databases for research and analysis. The medicinal properties of K. parviflora were preliminarily discussed based on the theory of traditional Chinese medicine under the guidance of clinical application and research literatures. The traditional Chinese medicine properties of K. parviflora were inferred as follows flat, acrid, sweet. The channel tropisms of K. parviflora included kidney, spleen, stomach, and liver. The function of K. parviflora included tonifying kidney to strengthen essence, tonifying Qi and invigorating spleen, soothing liver and relieving depression. K. parviflora was clinically applied for the diseases such as syndrome of kidney essence deficiency, sex apathy, deficiency of spleen Qi, lassitude and asthenia, a weary spirit, obesity, diabetes, liver Qi stagnation, depression, and restless. The equivalent of dry power is 1.5 g·d~(-1) and the equivalent of decoction is 1.5-6 g·d~(-1). The determination of traditional Chinese medicine properties of K. parviflora has indeed laid a theoretical foundation for its application in the field of traditional Chinese medicine and enriched traditional Chinese medicine resources.