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Schisandra (Schisandra chinensis) and Stress: evidence and sources
Adaptogen for fatigue and stress (improves stamina and resistance to physical and mental stressors)
For educational purposes only, not medical advice. Always consult a qualified practitioner before using medicinal plants, especially alongside prescribed medication, during pregnancy, or for a serious condition.
Adaptogens are synthetic compounds (bromantane, levamisole, aphobazole, bemethyl, etc.) or plant extracts that have the ability to enhance the body's stability against physical loads without increasing oxygen consumption. Extracts from Panax ginseng , Eleutherococcus senticosus , Rhaponticum carthamoides , Rhodiola rosea , and Schisandra chinensis are considered to be naturally occurring adaptogens and, in particular, plant adaptogens. The aim of this study is to evaluate the use of plant adaptogens in the past and now, as well as to outline the prospects of their future applications. The use of natural adaptogens by humans has a rich history-they are used in recovery from illness, physical weakness, memory impairment, and other conditions. About 50 years ago, plant adaptogens were first used in professional sports due to their high potential to increase the body's resistance to stress and to improve physical endurance. Although now many people take plant adaptogens, the clinical trials on human are limited. The data from the meta-analysis showed that plant adaptogens could provide a number of benefits in the treatment of chronic fatigue, cognitive impairment, and immune protection. In the future, there is great potential to register medicinal products that contain plant adaptogens for therapeutic purposes.
Schisandra chinensis Turcz. (Baill.) fruits, their extracts, and bioactive compounds are used in alternative medicine as adaptogens and ergogens protecting against numerous neurological, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, liver, and skin disorders. S. chinensis fruit extracts and their active compounds are potent antioxidants and mitoprotectors exerting anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anticancer, and anti-aging effects. S. chinensis polyphenolic compounds-flavonoids, phenolic acids and the major constituents dibenzocyclooctadiene lignans are responsible for the S. chinensis antioxidant activities. This review will focus on the direct and indirect antioxidant effects of S. chinensis fruit extract and its bioactive compounds in the cells during normal and pathological conditions.
2 sources supporting Schisandra for Stress. Includes scientific publications, books, monographs and traditional-use references.
Mechanistic basis
This use is associated with the plant's adaptogen action. Further evidence for that pharmacology:
Panax ginseng (Ginseng), Rhodiola rosea (Hong Jing Tian) and Schisandra chinensis (Wu Wei Zi) are well-known herbs in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Recently, there have been a number of studies on these three herbs. This review discusses their active components and major pharmacological effects. For P. ginseng, it has been shown to have an anti-inflammatory activity, affects pulmonary function and erectile dysfunction, improves cognition in patients with Alzheimer's disease and promotes sexual arousal in menopausal women as well as prevents cancer. For R. rosea, its effectiveness in alleviating depression and reducing fatigue is summarized in this review. Additionally, anti-cancer and other clinical effects of S. chinensis are also discussed. These three herbs are considered as adaptogens as they bear multiple functions and their effects were found to be very different in patients depending on the circumstances (age, gender, environment, diet, season, etc.). Thus, in most cases, the art of the TCM practitioner is to prescribe these herbs after a complete evaluation of overall heath status of the patients.
Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Bail. is often referred to as an example of a medicinal plant with use in modern Chinese medicine. However, Schisandra chinensis first gained recognition as an adaptogen in the official medicine of the USSR in the early 1960s, principally as a result of the large number of pharmacological and clinical studies carried out by Russian scientists in the preceding two decades. Schizandra has now secured an established position within the medicine of Russia/USSR as evidenced by the inclusion of the drug in recent editions of the National Pharmacopoeia of the USSR and in the State Register of Drugs. Pharmacological studies on animals have shown that Schizandra increases physical working capacity and affords a stress-protective effect against a broad spectrum of harmful factors including heat shock, skin burn, cooling, frostbite, immobilisation, swimming under load in an atmosphere with decreased air pressure, aseptic inflammation, irradiation, and heavy metal intoxication. The phytoadaptogen exerts an effect on the central nervous, sympathetic, endocrine, immune, respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal systems, on the development of experimental atherosclerosis, on blood sugar and acid-base balance, and on uterus myotonic activity. Studies on isolated organs, tissues, cells and enzymes have revealed that Schizandra preparations exhibit strong antioxidant activities and affect smooth muscles, arachidonic acid release, biosynthesis of leukotriene B(4) in leukocytes, platelet activating factor activity, carbohydrate-phosphorus metabolism, the formation of heat shock protein and polyamines, tissue respiration and oxygen consumption, and the tolerance of an organism to oxygen intoxication. In healthy subjects, Schizandra increases endurance and accuracy of movement, mental performance and working capacity, and generates alterations in the basal levels of nitric oxide and cortisol in blood and saliva with subsequent effects on the blood cells, vessels and CNS. Numerous clinical trials have demonstrated the efficiency of Schizandra in asthenia, neuralgic and psychiatric (neurosis, psychogenic depression, astheno-depressive states, schizophrenia and alcoholism) disorders, in impaired visual function, hypotension and cardiotonic disorders, in epidemic waves of influenza, in chronic sinusitis, otitis, neuritis and otosclerosis, in pneumonia, radioprotection of the fetoplacental system of pregnant women, allergic dermatitis, acute gastrointestinal diseases, gastric hyper- and hypo-secretion, chronic gastritis, stomach and duodenal ulcers, wound healing and trophic ulcers. This review describes the considerable diversity of pharmacological effects of Schisandra chinensis reported in numerous studies carried out in the former USSR and which have been confirmed over more than 40 years of use of the plant as an official medicinal remedy. Such knowledge can be applied in the expansion of the use of Schizandra in the pharmacotherapy of European and other countries as well as for the further discovery of new drugs based on the lignans that constitute the main secondary metabolites of this plant.