Erigeron breviscapus (Deng Zhan Hua 灯盏花) is the whole grass of Erigeron breviscapus (Vant.) Hand-Mazz., a plant of the Compositae family found in Yunnan Province, China . It is characterized as having a cold nature and a bitter and slightly acrid flavor. A herbal medicine belonging to the family Asteraceae, containing scutellarin and scutellarein as major phytochemicals used in cerebrovascular diseases and cerebral infarction.
Treatment with scutellarin improves synaptic plasticity after ischemic injury by upregulating the Notch-1 pathway along with that it suppresses microglia and astrocytes-mediated destruction of neurons. It has been demonstrated that scutellarin promotes angiogenesis after cerebral ischemic reperfusion injury by upregulating inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), essential fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) expression, thus accelerating neuroplasticity.
The whole plant of E. breviscapus was exploited as a folk medicine by the Yi minority people of Southwest China to treat paralysis caused by stroke and joint pain from rheumatism.
