A study into the analgesic properties of various Chinese herbs has found that a compound of Yan Hu Suo (Rhizoma Corydalis) is able to effectively treat various kinds of pain, including inflammatory and neuropathic pain. Working with Chinese scientists, a team from USA isolated a compound called dehydrocorybulbine (DHCB) from the roots of the plant Corydalis yanhusuo. In animal tests, DHCB diminished both inflammatory pain, which is associated with tissue damage and immune cell infiltration, and neuropathic pain, which is caused by nerve damage. This is important because there are currently no good treatments for neuropathic pain. The scientists found that DHCB has a novel mechanism of action, in that its analgesic effect is due to the fact that it blocks dopamine receptors. In addition, it appears to be non-addictive and does not lose its effectiveness with continued use. All of these make it a promising prospect for in pain management. The research team screened 10 traditional Chinese medicines known to be analgesics, testing nearly individual 500 compounds for their pain-relief abilities. Of those, only DHCB extracted from corydalis induced a reproducible analgesic effect. (A Novel Analgesic Isolated from a Traditional Chinese Medicine. Curr Biol. 2013 Dec 31. pii: S0960-9822(13)01494-2. [Epub ahead of print]).