Borneol – 410 and the Chinese Herbs Healing
Borneol is one of the famous alcohols that belong to the terpene family. The compound has the molecular formula C10H18O. It is more of a naturally occurring compound and white in color. The scent of borneol is similar to camphor.
This compound is obtained from different plants’ essential oils including the plant species which are indigenous to Borneo as well as Southeast Asia. Not to mention this organic compound has actually got its name due to its association in Indonesia with Borneo. The term borneol refers to many mixtures that are used in TCM – Traditional Chinese Medicine. Oftentimes, these mixtures are referred to as Borneo and even borneol camphor.
The Uses of Borneol
If we look at it from the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), borneol is bitter, acrid and cool in nature. It also covers the meridians of the lungs and heart. Some of the main functions of borneol are to clear stagnant fire, induce resuscitation, improve eyesight and remove nebula, relieve pain and swelling.
The main indications and uses are lockjaw during the stroke, convulsion due to phlegm confusing heart, coma in febrile diseases, quid blockage and deafness, canker, pharyngitis, carbuncle and swelling, otitis media, corneal opacity, hemorrhoids, and enterobiasis.
Borneol and the Modern Medical Applications
There are so many uses or benefits of borneol in modern medicine. The Chinese herb is confirmed to possess the following effects.
Antibacterial Action – Borneol kills or inhibits clinical regular pathogenic bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus, viridians streptococci and beta-hemolytic streptococcus.
Anti-inflammatory Effect – Both isoborneol and borneol has the potential to effectively restrain rat paw edema that is induced by the egg white. However, the effects are not promising when it comes to mouse ear edema.
Relieving Pain – If there is any wound that has resulted from the laser therapy it can easily be treated with borneol. When you use borneol to treat the wounds it creates 2.78 or even 6.24 times’ higher level of pain threshold in various animal models than from the saline group and jingwanhong group.
Contradictions and Potential Side Effects of Borneol
As per the medical experiments’ results, borneol may cause miscarriage in the middle as well as late pregnancy in animals like mice. It may cause the 100% abortion rate in the middle of the pregnancy and 91% in late. However, the effects of borneol, in early stages of pregnancy, are not clearly known or shown. This means that this not something a pregnant woman should consider during pregnancy.
It’s better to stay away from borneol during this period along with people diagnosed as qi-blood deficiency in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
All in all, borneol is one of the terpene alcohols that is mostly found in rosemary oil and has several properties of various other terpene alcohols. The compound is best known as the skin tonic, sedative, local anesthetic and antispasmodic.
Even though we do have sufficient information about borneol, there is still a need for more research work to fully recognize the great benefits as well as contradictions associated with this terpene alcohol.
