Houttuynia cordata (alias: Houttuynia cordata), alias Zhé’ěrɡēn, is a green plant of the Saururaceae family, produced in the southern provinces and cities along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China. Its mashed form has a strong fishy smell, tastes slightly bitter, and has the effects of clearing heat and removing fire, cough relief, and promoting urination as a traditional Chinese medicine and food.

The stem of Houttuynia cordata is flat cylindrical, crooked, with a surface of yellow-brown, with multiple longitudinal ridges, prominent nodes, and root remnants on the upper nodes; it is brittle and easy to break. The leaves are symbiotic, the leaves are curled and皱，展开后呈心形，顶端渐尖，全缘；the upper surface is dark light green to dark brown, the lower surface is light green or gray-brown; the leaf stem is long and thin, the tip is merged with the bract to form a sheath. The raceme is terminal, yellow-brown.

1. Enhance immunity

Houttuynia cordata can improve the phagocytic ability of WBC, increase the complement of blood cells, and in the treatment of chronic bronchitis, the synthesized Houttuynia cordata extract can significantly enhance the phagocytic ability of WBC against Staphylococcus albus and significantly increase the complement of blood cells. Rabbits are injected intramuscularly with 8mg of Houttuynia cordata extract daily. After 3 days of continuous administration, the complement of blood cells also significantly increases. Houttuynia cordata enhances the body’s immune function, which is of great significance in the treatment of infectious diseases.

2. Bacteriostatic effect

A light yellow oily substance was extracted from Houttuynia cordata, which has inhibitory effects on various microorganisms (especially yeasts and molds), and has significant inhibitory effects on hemolytic streptococcal infection, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, catarrhal Gram-negative bacilli, and Streptococcus pneumoniae. It also has effects on Escherichia coli, Shigella, and Salmonella typhi. The compound synthesized with sodium lauryl sulfate is called Houttuynia cordata extract. The compound synthesized with dodecyl bromide hydrogen sulfate is called Neospermidine, which has a significant inhibitory effect on a variety of bacteria in vitro: for Staphylococcus aureus and penicillin-resistant MIC is 62.5-80Mcg/ml, for Streptococcus pneumoniae is 1.25mg/ml. On the Pabst broth culture medium, it is 16mcg/ml for the H37RY strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. On the improved Tongzhou Bay semi-solid culture medium, it is 25mcg/ml, and its potassium salt is 12.5mcg/ml.

3. Antiviral therapeutic effect

The tissue of primary monolayer squamous epithelial cells from kidney tissue is used to shape, the decoction of Houttuynia cordata (1:10) has inhibitory effects on the influenza A strain Jingke 68-1 in the Asian region, and can also slow down the growth and development of ECHO11 virus infection in abandoned children. Many non-volatile oil fractions are obtained by alcohol extraction. Among them, Houttuynia cordata extract III has a protective and maintenance effect on the infection of influenza virus in mice, and has no significant effect on EMC and HSV II. The compounds synthesized from Houttuynia cordata also have strong antiviral therapeutic effects. The extract of Houttuynia cordata (4g crude drug/ml) has a significant preventive and protective effect on the infection of mice with recurrent influenza virus. However, it has no significant protective effect on the infection of brain myocarditis virus and herpesvirus type 2. It has also been confirmed that the antiviral components of Houttuynia cordata do not contain volatile oil, but are in non-volatile organic matter.