Investigation to Angelicae sinensis Radix Adjusting Middle Jiao / 浙江中医药大学学报

ABSTRACT

[Objective] To investigate the functions of Angelicae sinensis Radix(Dang gui) according to its usage by the Qing dynasty physician Fei Boxiong and to define its role within his method of“harmonizing the middle”.[Method]Extensive reading of works of Chinese materia medica from different eras and clinical works by Zhang Zhongjing and Fei Boxiong, analyzing the functions ascribed to Angelicae sinensis Radix(Dang gui) and its clinical usage. [Outcome] Many of Zhang Zhongjing’s classical formulas containing Dang gui focus on the treatment of abdominal pain, especial y cold-type abdominal pain, for example Dang gui Sheng Jiang Yang Rou Tang, Wen Jing Tang, etc. Dang gui is said to“warm the middle”in early works of materia medica, but its warming and regulating effect is not limited to the middle burner, i.e. to spleen and stomach. The word“middle”in the term“warm the middle”must be understood here as interor, i.e. the inside of the body. Dang gui can also warm the other viscera and bowels as wel as the channels and col aterals. That’s why Zhang Zhongjing frequently using Dang gui to treat abdominal pain. Fei Boxiong used Dang gui in suitable combinations with other herbs to regulate qi and blood and thus harmonize the middle. Dang gui does not only nourish the blood; it can also warm the middle, disperse cold, regulate the qi, al eviate pain, moisten the intestines, direct the qi downwards, etc. [Conclusion] Nowadays the blood-nourishing fuction of Dang gui is overly emphasized. Using the perspective of Dang gui supplementing the blood, it is hard to understand its functions in formulas that al eviate abdominal pain or harmonize the middle. But if one, on the basis of descriptions in historical works on materia medica and its clinical usage in classical formulas, perceives Dang gui as an herb that warms the middle and regulates the qi, its function of harmonizing the middle can be understood much better.