Research Advances on the Pharmacological Effects of Tetrandrine

Ancient Chinese medicine Tetrandrine (Tet), a class of bisbenzylisoquinoline extracted from the root tuber of Stephania tetrandra S. Moore, is considered to have major biological activities. As is known to all, Tet can exhibit the inhibitory effects on various types of diseases, including hypertension, pneumosilicosis, and arthrophlogosis. Tet also has favorable perspectives in protecting hepatic cells, resisting hepatic fibrosis, lowering portal hypertension, inducing apoptosis of tumor cells and reversing multidrug resistance. In this review, we summarize evidence-based in vivo and in vitro studies on all these aspects of pharmacological effects of Tet.