ASTERTATARICUS

Pharmaceutical Applications

A native of subalpine regions in Central and South Japan, this perennial plant is found from Eastern Asia (China, Japan, and Korea) to Siberia. It belongs to the family Asteraceae and is used in traditional Chinese medicine since ancient times. Known for its antibacterial, antifungal, and antitussive activity, the roots are used to treat chronic bronchitis. The plant’s anticancer activity has been attributed to triterpene epifriedelinol. The ethanolic extract of A. tataricus was tested on SCC-9 oral squamous carcinoma cells and was found to have significant cytotoxic and clonogenic activity in a dose-dependent manner. The plant extract had significantly increased the number of cells in G2/M phase (Wang et al. 2017a). However, prolonged use of A. tataricus extract can cause liver toxicity (Peng et al. 2016).