Kontakt 2013, 15(1):82-88 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2013.011

Aralia - plant adaptogensBiomedicine - Review

Zdeňka Navrátilová^1,*, Jiří Patočka²

¹ Přírodovědecká fakulta Univerzity Karlovy v Praze, katedra botaniky

² Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Zdravotně sociální fakulta, katedra radiologie a toxikologie

Stress is a risk factor for a number of diseases and in general, it is an important predictor of the human health. Herbal products employed as adaptogens are helpful in the regulation and control of the stress reaction and bring strong evidence in support of the use of medicinal products based on substances of plant origin for these purposes.
Supportive and tonic plants belong to oldest tools used by herbalists worldwide. The substance exerting tonic effects on the human organism and inducing the capability of resisting stress factors is an adaptogen. This substance must be non-harmful to the organism, i. e. it must not induce any disorders of physiological functions, but it should also induce non-specific effects normalizing these functions regardless of the pathologic condition. The principle of the effect of an adaptogen is its ability to help the body to manage the stress. There is a long list of plants exerting adaptogenic characteristics. The top species is Panax ginseng (=Panax schinseng) from Asia (referred to as Chinese or Korean ginseng), considered as a "golden standard" of adaptogenic plants. Further commonly accepted adaptogenic plants are Rhodiola rosea, Eleutherococcus, Schisandra or Leuzea. The genus Aralia also exerts adaptogenic features, i.e. capability of enhancing non-specific resistance of the body to the stress, tiredness and disease. Aralia mandschurica is a particularly strong adaptogen, which has been used for centuries in traditional medicine, but it was only recently recognized in the Western civilization. Many biologically active substances were recently isolated from species of the genus Aralia. Aralosides stimulate the activity of the immunity system, moderate stress and enhance the resistance of the organism to harmful factors of the environment, hypoxia and infections. In addition to terpenic saponins, further compounds have also been separated from Aralia species and their pharmacological characteristics and possibilities of their use in medicine are discussed in the article presented here.

Keywords: plant adaptogen; stress; Aralia sp.; aralosides; polyacetylenes

Received: July 4, 2012; Accepted: December 7, 2012; Published: March 15, 2013  Show citation