Tinnitus, deafness treated with TCM herb Drynaria

What is Drynaria(Gu Sui Bu)?
Medicinally it mainly refers to the roots of Drynaria fortunei (Kunze) J. Sm., Drynaria baronii (Christ) Diels, Drynaria propinqua (Wall.)J. Smith, or Pseudodrynaria coronans (Wall.) Ching. And other common names include Drynaria roosii, Drynaria Rhizome, and Rhizoma Drynariae. Among them Drynaria fortunei is a species of basket fern in the family Polypodiaceae. And the first one is mainly produced in Zhejiang, Hubei, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Sichuan; the second one is mainly produced in Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan. This herb can be harvested all year round but winter and spring are preferable. After the harvest, remove leaves and scales, wash clean, moisturize thoroughly, slice, and dry. It is used raw or sand-scorched.

Drynaria fortunei plant is an epiphytic herb, 20 to 40cm high. Fleshy, stout, and long rhizome grows horizontally and is covered densely with brown, linear chisel-shaped scales. Leaves come with two shapes. Foliage leaf is thick and leathery, reddish-brown or grayish brown, ovate, sessile, 5 to 6.5 cm long and 4 to 5.5 cm wide, and with pinnate lobed edges that looks like oak leaves. Sporophyll is green and with a short winged handle. Blade is oblong or oblong, 20 to 37cm long, 8 to 18.5cm wide, and pinnatipartite. 6 to 15 pairs of accessory pinna are broadly lanceolate or oblong, 4 ~ 10 cm long, and 1.5 to 2.5cm wide. Sori are round, brown, arranged with 2 to 4 lines on both sides of the middle vein. Each rectangular mesh harbors one 1 without indusia.

Drynaria benefits
Root of Drynaria fortunei contains naringin, hop-21-ene, fern-9 (11) ene, ern-7-ene, filic-3-ene, β-sitosterol, stigmasterol, campesterol, and tetracyclic triterpenoids, such as cycloardenyl acetate, cyclomargenyl acetate, cyclolaudenyl acetate, 9, 10-cycloanost-25-en-3β-yl acetate, and so on. However, as far as the chemical constituents are concerned, it provides with no health benefits information, which instead can be revealed by its pharmacology.

Modern pharmacological actions of Drynaria
1. Its water decoction and Drynaria extract by alcohol can prevent the rising of serum cholesterol and triglycerides. In addition, they can prevent the formation of atherosclerotic plaques;
2. Its polysaccharides and flavanone glycosides can lower blood lipid and resist arteriosclerosis;
3. It can promote bone’s absorption of calcium, increase calcium and phosphorus levels, which is conducive to fracture healing;
4. It can improve cartilage cells and postpone degenerative lesions of bone cells;
5. The flavanone glycosides contained have significant sedative and analgesic effects.