Drugs whose principal effects are calming the liver to check endogenous wind and relieve convulsion and calming the liver to suppress gyperactivity of the liver-yang are called ´drugs for calming the liver´. These drugs are chiefly indicated for dizziness and blurred vision due to hyperactivity of the liver-yang, and spasms and convulsions due to up-stirring of endogenous wind resulting from disorders of the liver. Some drugs in this class also have the effects of clearing away heat from the liver and are therefore effective for blood-shot, swollen and painful eyes and headache due to intense heat in the liver.
We thought that the symptoms in hyperactivity of the liver-yang in traditional Korean medicine is similar to the signs of hypertensive patients in some case. We chose 7 kinds of drugs for calming the liver and observed the antihypertensive effects on male S.H.R. and S.D rats, direct relaxant activity on isolated rabbit aorta, and ACE inhibitory activity.
There was significant antihypertensive effect of Gastrodiae Rhizoma, Scorpio, Lumbricus and Scolopendra in S.H.R., and antihypertensive tendency of Uncariae Ramulus et Uncus, Cassiae Semen, Bombyx Batryticatus. Therefore we concluded that there was come correlation between liver-calming and antihypertensive activity.
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