Ling Jiao Gou Teng Tang (Antelope Horn and Uncaria Decoction)

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Indications

Western Uses:

• What is Ling Jiao Gou Teng Tang used for in modern practice?

  In modern TCM clinical literature, this Liver-heat-generating-wind pattern is traditionally correlated with acute febrile neurological presentations — high-fever convulsions in children, epidemic (Japanese B) encephalitis and meningitis with convulsion, hypertensive encephalopathy, and eclampsia in pregnancy, all contexts where a sudden surge of heat is followed by involuntary muscular spasm.

  These biomedical correlates describe the formula’s traditional use, not a claim that it treats any diagnosed disease; high fever, convulsions, loss of consciousness, and eclampsia are medical emergencies requiring immediate professional and, where indicated, emergency care. Direct clinical-trial evidence for this specific formula is limited — most available evidence is preclinical, on the chief herb (see research) — and should not be confused with the separate, better-studied formula Tian Ma Gou Teng Yin, which shares Gou Teng but treats a different, non-febrile Liver-yang-rising pattern.

  Source: traditional-use correlates summarized from Bensky & Barolet, Formulas & Strategies; reference only, not a treatment claim.

Originally Appeared In:

• Revised Popular Guide to the Discussion of Cold Induced Disorders (Chong Ding Tong Su Shan Han Lun)

Notes:

• How is Ling Jiao Gou Teng Tang different from Zhen Gan Xi Feng Tang and Tian Ma Gou Teng Yin?

  All three formulas address Liver wind, but by different mechanisms and at different levels of severity. Ling Jiao Gou Teng Tang is for acute, excess-heat-generated wind with high fever and spasm; the other two treat chronic wind arising from Liver-yang rising rather than blazing heat.

  • vs Zhen Gan Xi Feng Tang (Sedate the Liver and Extinguish Wind Decoction): that formula settles ascendant Liver yang and internal wind rooted in Liver/Kidney yin deficiency — headache, dizziness, tinnitus, and in severe cases sudden collapse — without the high fever, acute convulsion, or dry crimson tongue seen here.
  • vs Tian Ma Gou Teng Yin: a milder, more chronic formula that shares Gou Teng and calms Liver yang for dizziness, headache, insomnia, and hypertension; it does not address blazing heat or acute convulsion and should not be substituted for this formula in a febrile-wind presentation.

  Origin: a Qing-dynasty formula attributed to Yu Gen-chu, from Tong Su Shang Han Lun (Popular Guide to Cold Damage Disorders).

  Source: Bensky & Barolet, Formulas & Strategies (formula comparison and source text within the Cool the Liver and Extinguish Wind category).

Clinical Studies & Research:

• Is there modern research on Ling Jiao Gou Teng Tang?

  Direct clinical-trial evidence on this specific formula is limited; available research is largely preclinical, focused on the chief herb Ling Yang Jiao (saiga antelope horn) and on a closely related decoction. A 2024 rat study found saiga antelope horn suppressed febrile seizures — delaying onset and improving survival in a lipopolysaccharide-plus-hyperthermia seizure model — by rebalancing excitatory/inhibitory neurotransmitters (glutamate/GABA) and inhibiting the arachidonic acid (COX-2) inflammatory pathway, offering a mechanistic account for the herb’s traditional anticonvulsant use in febrile seizures.

  • Febrile seizures (preclinical, chief herb): saiga antelope horn delayed seizure onset and reduced hippocampal damage in a rat febrile-seizure model via neurotransmitter and arachidonic-acid-pathway regulation (PMID 38831318).
  • Vascular dementia (preclinical, related decoction): a Ling-Yang-Gou-Teng decoction improved learning/memory and reduced oxidative stress and neurovascular-coupling dysfunction in a rat vascular-dementia model (PMID 29545211).

  Discrepancy note: much of the published clinical-trial literature retrieved for “Gou Teng” and hypertension concerns the separate formula Tian Ma Gou Teng Yin, not Ling Jiao Gou Teng Tang; those trials are not cited here as evidence for this formula.

  Sources: PubMed 38831318; PubMed 29545211. Research context, not a therapeutic claim; direct clinical trial evidence for this formula remains limited.