Maozhaocao (Ranunculus Ternatus): Anticancer and Antitubercular Effects
Maozhaocao is the tuberous root or whole herb of Ranunculus ternatus of the Ranunculaceae family, produced mainly in Henan, Zhejiang, and Guangxi; it is named for its root, which resembles a cat's paw.
Chinese medicine holds that maozhaocao is acrid and sweet in flavor and warm in nature, entering the liver and lung meridians. It resolves phlegm and dissipates nodules, and resolves toxins and reduces swelling. It treats scrofula, tuberculosis, furuncles, migraine, malaria, toothache, and snake and insect bites.
According to the Zhongyao Da Cidian (Dictionary of Chinese Materia Medica), modern pharmacological research has found that maozhaocao mainly has antitumor and antitubercular effects. In vitro, the ethanol extract of maozhaocao, in a screening model combining L929 cells with sarcoma S180 cells, induces tumor necrosis factor; its active component is palmitic acid. Ranunculin (xiaomaogongrungsu) in maozhaocao can reduce expression of the small heat-shock-protein gene of dormant tubercle bacilli in peripheral-blood lymphocytes of drug-resistant tuberculosis patients; while activating the dormant bacilli, it increases expression of granulysin mRNA in peripheral-blood lymphocytes, enhancing the bactericidal ability of cytotoxic T lymphocytes and thereby achieving anti-drug-resistance.
Chinese medicine has not used maozhaocao for long; only in modern times did clinical physicians bring it into common use, classifying it among the phlegm-resolving, cough-suppressing, and anti-asthmatic herbs. Ancient materia medica works mostly do not record it. But folk use of maozhaocao has a longer history; folk people commonly use it to treat various nodules and tumor-type diseases, so it is mainly used by oncology physicians. Maozhaocao is mostly used to treat lung cancer, thyroid cancer, lymphoma, and breast cancer; the patent medicine Hechan Pian contains maozhaocao.
Folk people use large doses of maozhaocao alone, usually 60-120 g. In Henan folk, to treat pulmonary tuberculosis and lymphatic tuberculosis, one uses 120 g of maozhaocao alone, decocted for internal use, or decocts appropriate amounts of maozhaocao and selfheal (Xiakucao) together. For anticancer and swelling-reducing use, maozhaocao in decoction should be no less than 30 g. The Kangai Bencao records a folk formula: 30 g of maozhaocao, 30 g of duchesnea (Sheshemei), 30 g of oyster (Muli), and 9 g of selfheal (Xiakucao), decocted in water, one dose daily, which can treat malignant lymphoma, thyroid tumor, and breast tumor. But in my experience, the effective rate of this formula is very low.
Maozhaocao can also be used externally; the fresh herb may be pounded for application or ground into powder for paste application. Pounded maozhaocao root applied externally treats various tuberculoses and unknown swellings. Folk people have a formula of 10 g of maozhaocao and one centipede made into a powder and taken daily to treat cervical lymphatic tuberculosis; generally 30-40 days is one course, and 1-3 courses bring cure. Zhejiang Zhongyiyao Zazhi (Zhejiang Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine) also published a formula for treating excessive male breast development: 50 g each of maozhaocao and raw wheat sprout, decocted for tea.
Maozhaocao has very low toxicity; I have used 120 g of it in compound formulas without seeing obvious side effects. But I used maozhaocao frequently for a period, and clinically its anticancer effect was not ideal either. Because this herb is still not widely used and few physicians use it, there has not been enough pharmacological and toxicological research on it, and the available reference material is limited.