It has been a long-term

arduous task for traditional Chinese medicine practitioners to study the "efficacy-enhancing and toxicity-reducing" effect of Chinese herbal medicines. However

they mostly focused on the traditional Chinese herbs with a higher toxicity

such as Tripterygium wilfordii

Aconite Lateralis Radix Praeparata

Aconiti Radix and Aconiti Kusnezoffii

but paid less attention to commonly used herbs with less toxic and side effects. Polygala Radix is commonly used as a nootropic medicine in the clinic

and one of hot herbs in anti-aging and intelligence-reinforcing experiments at present. Polygala Radix has an obvious gastrointestinal side effect

and contains tenuigenin that has an anti-aging and intelligence-reinforcing effect but toxicity. By summarizing the recent advance in studies on common combinations of Polygala Radix

including Polygala Radix-Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma

Polygala Radix-Magnoliae Officinalis Cortex

Polygala Radix-Mel

Polygala Radix-Ziziphi Spinosae Semen

Polygala Radix-Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma

Polygala Radix-Poria (Fushen)

Polygala Radix-Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma

Polygala Radix-Bistortae Rhizoma

researchers found almost no experimental study combing the intelligence-reinforcing and toxicity-reducing effects. Considering the effectiveness and safety

based on the compatibility

they studied Polygala Radix's "toxicity-reducing and efficacy-enhancing" effects in the expectation of obtaining valuable evidence from laboratory

which is of great significance to guiding clinical medication of Polygala Radix and developing new drugs.