Devil's club (Oplopanax horridus) Health Benefits and Side Effects

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Devil's Club is a large shrub, genus Oplopanax, belonging to the family Aralioideae, native to the cool moist forests of western North America. The herb has been used in traditional and herbal medicine as Adaptogen, Antipyretic, Pain Reliever, Antitussive, Antibacterial agent and to treat Arthritis, Diabetes, Colds, Cough, Sore throat, Chest congestion, Stomach pain, Constipation, Gall stones, Influenza, Cancer, etc.

Health Effects
1. Antimycobacterial polyynes
In the investigation of isolated polyynes isolated from Devil's Club (Oplopanax horridus; Araliaceae) and its antimycobacterial effects found that polyynes exhibited significant anti-Candida, antibacterial, and antimycobacterial activity, with an ability to kill Mycobacterium tuberculosis and isoniazid-resistant Mycobacterium avium at 10 micrograms/disk in a disk diffusion assay, according to the study of "Antimycobacterial polyynes of Devil's Club (Oplopanax horridus), a North American native medicinal plant' by Kobaisy M, Abramowski Z, Lermer L, Saxena G, Hancock RE, Towers GH, Doxsee D, Stokes RW.(1)

2. Anticancer activities
In the investigation of Devil's Club (Oplopanax horridus) is one of the most important spiritual and medicinal plants to many indigenous peoples of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. and its potential anticancer activity found that Hydrophobic falcarindiol extracted from the herb possesses the strongest activity. Further cell cycle and apoptosis tests by flow cytometry showed the polyacetylenes 1-4 induced HCT-116 cell arresting in G2/M phase and inhibited proliferation by the induction of apoptosis at both earlier and later stages, according to "Hydrophobic constituents and their potential anticancer activities from Devil's Club (Oplopanax horridus Miq.)" by Sun S, Du GJ, Qi LW, Williams S, Wang CZ, Yuan CS.(2)

3. Anti-proliferative and antioxidant effects
In the analyzing Devil's Club, Oplopanax horridus (OH) and its anti-proliferative and antioxidant effects and found that OH significantly reduced nitric oxide production by lipopolysaccharide activated RAW 264.7 cells (p<0.001). Our data show that the ethanolic extract of OH has anti-proliferative on several cancer cell lines, and has strong antioxidant activity, according to "In vitro anti-proliferative and antioxidant studies on Devil's Club Oplopanax horridus" by Tai J, Cheung S, Cheah S, Chan E, Hasman D.(3)

4. Ovarian cancer
In the study of 70% ethanol, 100% ethanol, and ethyl acetate extracts of OH and its potential proliferation of human ovarian cancer cell lines found that OH extract with cisplatin and paclitaxel enhanced its anti-proliferation IC(50) on A2780 and A2780CP70 cells. Cell cycle analysis demonstrated that the effect of OH extract on cell cycle was dependent on the concentration tested, blocking cells in the S and G2/M phases. At low concentrations it induced cell death by apoptosis, while at high concentrations, it kills cells by necrosis, according to "Inhibition of human ovarian cancer cell lines by devil's club Oplopanax horridus" by Tai J, Cheung S, Chan E, Hasman D.(4)

5. Colorectal cancer
in the observation of inhibitive effects of Oplopanax horridus extract (OhE) and its fractions (OhF1, OhF2, OhF3, OhF4 and OhF5) on the growth of human colorectal cancer cells found that OhE had potential antiproliferative effects on human colorectal cancer cells, and the active components are enriched in the OhF4 and OhF5 fractions. The anticancer mechanism of OhE, OhF4 and OhF5 might be attributed to the induction of apoptosis and the regulation of cell cycle transition, according to "Effects of Oplopanax horridus on human colorectal cancer cells" by Li XL, Sun S, Du GJ, Qi LW, Williams S, Wang CZ, Yuan CS.(5)

6. Anti-tuberculosis
The crude extract of an Alaskan ethnobotanical plant, Oplopanax horridus and its Anti-tuberculosis effects found that among the entire polarity range, fractions with distribution constant between 0.44 and 0.81 showed the most synergistic enhancement with an increase in potency by 108% for the recombined fractions, according to "Counter-current chromatography based analysis of synergy in an anti-tuberculosis ethnobotanical" by Inui T, Wang Y, Deng S, Smith DC, Franzblau SG, Pauli GF.(6)

7. Antiviral effects
In the observation of One hundred methanolic plant extracts were screened for antiviral activity against seven viruses, including Devil's claw found that the inner bark extract of Oplopanax horridus partially inhibited this virus, according to the study of "Antiviral screening of British Columbian medicinal plants" by McCutcheon AR, Roberts TE, Gibbons E, Ellis SM, Babiuk LA, Hancock RE, Towers GH.(7)

8. Etc.

Side effects
1. Do not use Devil's claw in children, if you are pregnant or breast feeding with out consulting with related field specialist,
2. The herb may interact with certain medicine, if you are taking lower blood sugar medicine, please consult with your doctor before applying.
3. It may cause allergic reaction.
4. Etc.


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Sources
(1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9392889
(2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20723598
(3) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16814500
(4) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19835944
(5) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20332432
(6) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17316661
(7) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8847882