What are the effects and functions of Cuscuta?

The aphrodisiac effect of Cuscuta australis is very good, and it can also help us better regulate our endocrine system. It also has a good regulating effect on some heart rate or blood pressure problems, and it can also effectively help us lower our blood pressure.

1. Aphrodisiac effect Experiments have shown that Cuscuta has the effect of improving the sexual vitality of fruit flies and significantly increasing their mating rate. The strength of its effect is positively correlated with the concentration of the drug. For the "yang deficiency" model of mice caused by hydrocortisone, the use of Cuscuta can have a certain recovery effect on its yang deficiency symptoms, but it failed to restore the animals to the level of the normal control group. Experiments show that the water decoction of Cuscuta given to "yang deficiency" mice by gavage can significantly increase their body weight, kidney weight, thymus weight, white blood cell count, red blood cell count, hemoglobin and superoxide dismutase activity; given to male mice by gavage, it can significantly prolong the swimming time and survival time of mice under hypoxic conditions. It also has an enhancing effect on the non-specific resistance of mice.

2. Effects on endocrine system: It has been reported that oral administration of water extract of Cuscuta chinensis to female rats can increase the weight of the anterior pituitary, ovaries and uterus of rats, but has no effect on the level of luteinizing hormone (LH) in plasma; it increases the number of HCG/LH receptors in rat ovaries, while the Ka value is lower than that of the control group. Oral administration of water extract of Cuscuta chinensis to ovariectomized rats can increase the LH secretion response of the pituitary gland of ovariectomized anesthetized rats to the injection of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LRH). The plasma LH level is the highest at 90 minutes after injection, which can be increased by 241.58%. Therefore, the reporter believes that Cuscuta chinensis can increase the luteinizing function of the hypothalamus-pituitary-ovary, and this effect is not due to their direct stimulation of the secretion of pituitary luteinizing hormone, but due to the increase in the responsiveness of the pituitary gland to LRH and the ovary to LH.

3. Effects on heart rate and blood pressure The soy sauce (made from dodder and bean cake), infusion and tincture of dodder can enhance the contractility of isolated toad hearts. The former can increase heart rate, while the latter two can reduce it. The infusion was injected intravenously into anesthetized dogs and had the effect of lowering blood pressure.

4. The effect of delaying cataract formation Studies have shown that the water extract of Cuscuta chinensis was given to rats orally, which delayed the formation of cataracts in rats induced by galactose, and the percentage of transparent lenses was 33.3%. Its mechanism of action is that Cuscuta chinensis can reduce the activity of aldose reductase in rats with cataracts caused by galactose, enhance the activity of polyol dehydrogenase, hexokinase and 6-phosphoglucose dehydrogenase, and inhibit and correct the abnormal changes of enzymes in the lenses of rats with cataracts.

5. Other effects: Oral administration of 1g/kg of the whole plant water extract of Cuscuta chinensis to mice can significantly reduce the excitability and convulsions caused by electrical stimulation of mice, and can enhance the anesthetic effect of phenobarbital on mice under hypoxic conditions and prolong their survival time. The extract can antagonize the excitatory effect caused by amphetamine and show obvious analgesia activity.