ABSTRACT
This article was aimed to study potential functions of Mori Cortex. Through the investigation of Mori Cortex in ancient herbal literatures, ancient prescriptions, the 2010 edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, current pharmacodynamics and clinical studies, potential functions of Mori Cortex that had been lost were analyzed through comparative analysis. The results showed that the confirmed core functions of Mori Cortex recorded in ancient materia medica were in consistent with its applications in ancient prescriptions and its records in theChinese Pharmacopoeia. The functions summarized from the materia medica literatures contained potential functions such as supplementing qi, promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis, encouraging production of body fluids to extinguish thirst, removing phlegm, hemostasis, relieving stranguria, analgesia, expelling wind, and deworming. Mori Cortex compound prescription recorded in thePu-Ji-Fangdatabase were used in the treatment of consumptive disease, sore, typhoid, traumatic injury, stroke, diabetes, stranguria, arthralgia syndrome, phlegm, bleeding, various types of pain, parasitic diseases, poisonous insect bites, itching, and pox. All these potential functions of Mori Cortex were not included in theChinese Pharmacopoeia. It was concluded that combined with experimental researches and current clinical applications, potential functions such as supplementingqi, promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis, encouraging production of body fluids to extinguish thirst, removing phlegm, and relieving stranguria of Mori Cortex were confirmed.