Pinyin

Hai Ma

Pharmaceutical

Hippocampus

Botanical

Hippocampus kelloggi Jordan & Snyder(Syngnathidae) 

Common Name

sea horse

Other names

Shui Ma 

Class

Tonify

Subclass

Tonify the Yang

Details

Origin

Properties (characteristics)

Nature: Warm. 

Taste: Sweet, salty.

Organ: Kidneys, Liver.

Toxicity: Non toxic. 

Actions

Asthma, impotence, unable to conceive, sleepiness and lack of strength, infection of throat, skin diseases, difficulty in delivery babies, insomnia  due to deficiency, sciatica, injuries, abdomen pain, and breast cancer.

Medical Functions

Sex hormone effect: the alcohol extract of hai ma can prolong the heat period of female rats, increases the weight of the ovaries and possesses the effect of female hormone. It also can increase the weight of the prostate gland, spermatophore, and levator ani muscles. Its effect is stronger than she chuang zi,  yin yang huo,  ge jie.

Anti aging effect: hai ma can increase the threshold of mice in lack of oxygen, lower monoamine oxidase, and lower lipid peroxide inside the body.

Anti cancer effect: water decoction of hai long can promote normal people peripheral lymphocyte transformation, can inhibit human cancer cells. It is possible to observe the dissolving of the cancer cells after contacting the extract of hai long.

The larger the dosage the larger was the rate of dissolving of the cells and the more obvious was the leaching out of the content of the cancer cells.

Contraindications

Yin Deficiency with empty Heat. Pregnancy. Not to use during pregnancy or in cases of yinxu (yin deficient) with high heat.

Large dosage and long term usage can be toxic to kidneys.