EMETIC AND EXPECTORANT EFFECTS OF LYCORIS AUREA HERB

Lycoris aurea Herb (Amaryllidaceae) is indigenous to Yunnan and other southern provinces in China. The chief alkaloid of the bulb of the plant is lycorine. This paper describes the emetic and expectorant actions of the fluid extract and lycorine hydrochloride made from the dried bulbs. 1. It was found that both preparations caused emesis in dogs and pigeons. In the bilaterally stomach-vagotomized dog, emesis was not induced by oral administration of the fluid extract nor by oral or hypodermic injection of lycorine hydrochloride. In experiments with pigeons and dogs, the duration of induction of emesis was much shorter by parenteral routes than by oral administration. Thus the mechanism of the emetic action would appear to be both a local gastro-enteric irritation stimulating the medulla through reflex and an action on the vomiting centre. 2. Drugs with anti-emetic action (chlorpromazine, benadryl, phenergan, atropine and scopolamine) did not antagonize the vomiting induced by Lycoris aurea in pigeons and dogs. 3. Preparations of Lycoris aurea, like those of ipecac, exhibited an expectorant action in rabbits, in experiments employing the modified Perry and Boyd's method. It therefore seemed to be a nauseant expectorant. 4. The LD₅₀ of the fluid extract of Lycoris aurea for mice given orally was found to be 26.42 gm crude drug/kg. The chief symptoms before death were salivation, convulsion, and dyspnea. From the above findings, Lycoris aurea Herb might be a good expectorant for substituting ipecac preparations.