Pharmaceutical name:

英文藥名 ﹕

Carapax trionycis

Zoological name:

動物學名 ﹕

Trionyx sinensis Wiegmann

Pron. in Japanese:

日語發音﹕

bekko

Pron. in Korean:

韓語發音﹕

pyolgap

Pron. in Cantonese:

粵音﹕

bit3 gaap3

Other Names:

別名﹕

tuan yu jia 團魚甲，shui yu jia 水魚甲，

Common Name:

英文名﹕

hard shell of soft shell turtle

Distribution:

產地﹕

Mainly produced in Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan, Hubei, Zhejiang, Jiangxi provinces of China.

主 產 於 湖 北 ﹐ 安 徽 ﹐ 江 蘇 ﹐ 河 南 ﹐ 湖 北 ﹐ 浙 江 ﹐ 江 西 等 省 。

Properties

 characteristics)﹕

性味﹕

salty, neutral.

味鹹 ，性平 。

Channels  meridians) entered:

歸經﹕

liver, spleen, kidney.

入 肝 ,   脾 ,   腎 經 。

Medical functions:

藥理﹕

1. Prevent cirrhosis of liver and spleen

2. Improves immune system.

3.  Anti-tumor effect. Soft shell turtle shell powder, for oral of 280 mg / kg in mice with transplanted cancer MH134, inhibited tumors with reduced diameter, and significantly reduced tumor weight; but for ascites carcinoma there was no significant effect. On the nude mice with transplanted human colon cancer cells,  given the daily dose of  800mg / kg of soft shell turtle shell powder, the result was that: treatment and control group, the inhibitory rate was 92.15%, and tumor necrosis area was 67%. Compare to using the drug 5-fluorouracil (5- Fu) group, the advantage was that it did not cause white blood cell count to decrease. This indicate that the turtle shell powder can inhibit colorectal cancer in human, and with only small side effect, bone marrow suppression effect is much less than that of 5-Fu.  《source: Zhong Hua Ben Cao 》

藥理﹕

1. 防 止肝,  脾硬化 (組織壞死 )

2. 有 增強身體免疫機能作用 。

3. 抗腫瘤作用。鱉甲粉末口服280mg/kg對小鼠移植實質性癌MH134具有抑制作用，使腫瘤直徑減小，腫瘤重量顯著減輕。對腹水癌則沒有顯著作用。對接種人腸癌細胞的裸鼠每日按800mg/kg劑量口服鱉甲粉，治療35 天後與對照組比較，抑瘤率為92.15%，腫瘤壞死面積達67%，與5-氟尿嘧啶(5-Fu)組比較,其優點是不引起宿主白細胞數下降，表明鱉甲粉不僅對人腸癌有抑制作用，且副反應小，對骨髓的抑制遠比5-Fu輕。(資料來源: 《 中華本草 》

Actions & Indications:

主治﹕

1. For yinxu (yin deficient)   with flashes: usually combine with qing hao, di gu pi  

2. For yinxu with heat and pain: usually combine with gui ban, mu li, bai shao, e jiao .

3. For chronic malaria, pain in rib and chest, amenorrhea, cirrhosis hardening and swelling of liver and spleen: usually combine with san leng , e zhu, qing pi , xiang fu zi, hong hua  ,tao ren.

4. For enlargement of liver and spleen.

5. For enlargement of thyroid glands

6. For enlargement of lymphatic glands

Bie jia should be cooked first (cook longer than other herbs) or roasted in sand.

In promoting yin and and suppressing yang, bie jia should be use untreated. For treating breast tumors, it should be roasted in sand first.

1. 治陰 虛潮熱 ﹕  常配青 蒿 ,   地骨皮等同用 ；

2. 治陰虛陽亢動風 ﹕  常與龜 板  ,    牡蠣 ,    白 芍 ,   阿膠等同用 。

3. 治久瘧 ,   瘧母 ,   胸脅作痛及月經不通 ，

4. 癥瘕 積聚等症 ﹕ 可 與 三 棱 ,   莪朮  ,   青皮 ,    香附子 ,   紅花 ,  桃仁等 配 伍應用 。

5.  治肝脾腫大、甲狀線及淋巴 腺腫大。

6.  治再 生障礙性貧血（即骨髓不造血）。

 生 品先煎或砂炙。

滋陰潛陽宜生用，軟堅散結宜砂炙用。

Chemical ingredients:

化學成份﹕

animal colloid, among them collagen is the main constituent, keratin, iodine, vitamin D, calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate.

動物膠，其中骨膠原為主要成份，角蛋白，碘質，維生素D，磷酸鈣，碳酸鈣等。

Dosage:

用 量﹕

For internal use: 10 to 24 g in decoction

For external use: make into powder. Use appropriate amount and apply to affected area.

內服 入煎劑 ，常用具10～24克。
外用：研末撒或調敷。

Samples of formulae:

處方舉 例﹕

For enlargement of liver and spleen: bie jia jian wan 鱉甲煎丸

Modern Research:

現代研究﹕

Toxicity & Cautions:

毒素與禁忌﹕

1. Not to use in cases of lack of appetite, loose stool due to pixu (spleen deficient)

2. Use with care in cases of pregnancies

脾虛,  食少便溏及 孕婦慎 服

qualify of herb:

飲片的質量：

Those bie jia (soft turtle shells) sold, if they are clean and white in color, most of them have been extracted for bie jia jiao (gelatin). They are waste product and do have have medicinal value.

市上賣的潔白， 看來很乾淨的鱉甲大多數經過熬煉鱉甲膠的廢物, 沒有藥用價值。沒經過熬煉的鱉甲應該還帶有一些皮肉的。