Turtle Carapace is the name of a traditional Chinese medicine. It is the carapace of the Chinese soft-shelled turtle (Trionyx sinensis Wiegmann) from the family Trionychidae. They can be captured year-round, though most are caught in the fall and winter. After capture, the turtles are killed and placed in boiling water until the hard skin on the carapace can be peeled off. The carapace is then removed, any remaining flesh is scraped off, and it is sun-dried.It is distributed in various regions. It has the therapeutic effects of nourishing yin and subduing yang, reducing fever and eliminating night sweats, and softening hard masses and dispersing nodules. It is commonly used for yin deficiency fever, bone-consuming fever, yin deficiency with hyperactive yang, dizziness and vertigo, internal wind due to deficiency, amenorrhea, masses and nodules, and chronic malaria and malaria parasites.
Softshell Turtle Carapace
Turtle Carapace is the name of a traditional Chinese medicine. It is the carapace of the Chinese soft-shelled turtle (Trionyx sinensis Wiegmann) from the family Trionychidae. They can be captured year-round, though most are caught in the fall and winter. After capture, the turtles are killed and placed in boiling water until the hard skin on the carapace can be peeled off. The carapace is then removed, any remaining flesh is scraped off, and it is sun-dried.It is distributed in various regions. It has the therapeutic effects of nourishing yin and subduing yang, reducing fever and eliminating night sweats, and softening hard masses and dispersing nodules. It is commonly used for yin deficiency fever, bone-consuming fever, yin deficiency with hyperactive yang, dizziness and vertigo, internal wind due to deficiency, amenorrhea, masses and nodules, and chronic malaria and malaria parasites.
Chinese Name : 鳖甲
Latin Name : Trionycis Carapax
Aliases : Turtle Carapace, Soft-shelled Turtle Shell
Nature, Flavor & Meridian Tropism : Salty in taste, slightly cold in nature; enters the Liver and Kidney meridians
Benefits & Efficacy
Benefits
Nourishes yin and subdues yang; reduces fever and eliminates night sweats; softens hardness and disperses masses.
Indications
Mainly used for fever due to yin deficiency, bone-consumptive fever, yin deficiency with hyperactive yang, dizziness and vertigo, internal wind due to deficiency, amenorrhea, masses and masses, chronic malaria, and malaria with persistent fever.
Usage and Dosage
Internal use: Decocted as a soup, 10–30 g, boiled first; made into a paste; or incorporated into pills or powders. External use: Charred until only the residue remains, ground into a powder, and mixed or applied as a poultice. Use raw for nourishing yin and subduing yang; roast with vinegar for softening hardness and dispersing masses.
Precautions
Contraindicated in cases of spleen-stomach deficiency-cold, poor appetite, loose stools, and during pregnancy.
Chemical Constituents
Contains animal胶, with collagen as the main component; other constituents include keratin, iodine, vitamin D, calcium carbonate, etc.
Pharmacological Actions
1. Anticancer Effects: Powdered softshell turtle shell inhibits solid tumors but has no significant effect on ascites-associated cancers; Softshell Turtle Shell Powder significantly inhibits the growth of L210, HL-60, and gastric cancer 830 cells. 2. Fortifying Effects: Softshell turtle polysaccharides significantly enhance tolerance to hypoxia and resistance to freezing, and have anti-fatigue effects. 3. Effects on the Digestive System: It significantly reduces serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity and has a hepatoprotective effect. It inhibits connective tissue hyperplasia, thereby eliminating nodules and softening the liver and spleen. 4. Anti-fatigue Effects: It increases the amplitude of muscle contractions and improves fatigue resistance. 5. In addition, softshell turtle shell exhibits certain anti-radiation and anti-mutagenic effects, reduces plasma cAMP (cyclic adenosine monophosphate) levels, lowers oxygen consumption in liver tissue, enhances cold tolerance, and combats anemia.
Relevant Discussions
1. *The Classic of Herbal Medicine*: Treats hard masses and accumulations in the chest and abdomen, alternating chills and fever; removes fullness, polyps, genital erosion, hemorrhoids (lumps), and malignant growths.
2. *The Supplementary Record*: Treats warm malaria, blood masses, low back pain, and hardness under the flanks in children.
3. *Treatise on the Nature of Medicinal Substances*: Treats undigested food, masses, stagnant qi, cold masses, emaciation due to overwork; descends qi; eliminates bone heat, heat in the joints due to overwork, and blockages caused by stagnation. Treats women with abnormal vaginal discharge of five colors and those who are emaciated.
Applications
Clinical Applications
1. For treating stone-induced dysuria: Pound soft-shelled turtle shell into a fine powder; take one fangcun bi with wine, two or three times daily, to expel stones and achieve recovery. (*Formulas for Emergency Care*)
2. For treating abscesses and boils that fail to heal, as well as all types of skin ulcers regardless of location: Burn the soft-shelled turtle shell until only the charred residue remains, then grind it into a powder and apply topically. (*Formulas for Strange Diseases and Unusual Conditions*)
Related Compatibility
1. Turtle Shell Combined with Lycium Bark: Turtle shell is salty and cold, nourishing yin and excelling at nourishing yin and clearing heat; Lycium bark is sweet and cold, moisturizing and cooling, and excels at cooling the blood and relieving bone-steaming fever. When combined, these two herbs enhance the effects of nourishing yin, clearing heat, cooling the blood, and relieving bone-steaming fever. This combination is suitable for liver and kidney yin deficiency with persistent low-grade fever; or for conditions of intense pathogenic heat characterized by night sweats, bone-steaming fever, emaciation, and symptoms such as nocturnal emissions and loose stools.
2. Turtle Shell combined with White薇: Turtle Shell is salty and cold, excelling at tonifying the liver and kidneys, nourishing yin, and clearing heat; White薇 is bitter and cold, excelling at clearing heat, cooling the blood, and nourishing yin to clear heat. When combined, these two herbs enhance the effects of nourishing yin and clearing heat. This combination is suitable for the late stage of warm diseases characterized by deficiency of both qi and yin, persistent low-grade fever, and heat in the palms, soles, and chest.
3. Turtle Shell Combined with Prepared Rehmannia Root: Turtle Shell excels at nourishing yin and clearing heat; Prepared Rehmannia Root excels at nourishing yin and blood. When combined, these two herbs nourish yin, clear heat, and nourish blood. This combination is suitable for conditions of yin deficiency with blood heat, such as early menstruation and dark purple menstrual blood.
4. Turtle Shell combined with White Peony Root: Turtle Shell excels at nourishing yin and clearing heat; White Peony Root excels at nourishing blood and soothing the liver. When combined, these two herbs enhance the effects of nourishing yin, nourishing blood, soothing the liver, and relieving spasms. This combination is suitable for conditions such as prolonged illness leading to near-exhaustion of yin, internal wind arising from deficiency, tremors in the hands and feet, and a weak pulse nearing collapse.
5. Turtle Shell Combined with Angelica Root: Turtle Shell excels at softening hardness and dispersing nodules; Angelica Root excels at tonifying and harmonizing the blood. When combined, these two herbs work to soften hardness, disperse nodules, and tonify and harmonize the blood. This combination is suitable for conditions such as masses in the chest and abdomen, as well as masses and accumulations.
6. Turtle Shell combined with Peach Kernel: Turtle Shell can unblock and invigorate the blood vessels, break up stagnation, and dispel heat; Peach Kernel can invigorate blood circulation and resolve blood stasis, as well as moisten the intestines and promote bowel movements. When combined, these two herbs can unblock and invigorate the blood vessels, break up stagnation, dispel heat, and resolve blood stasis. This combination is suitable for conditions such as food stagnation, internal accumulation of blood and heat, and alternating chills and fever that persist for a long time without subsiding.
7. Turtle Shell Combined with Atractylodes: Turtle Shell clears heat, nourishes yin, softens hardness, and disperses nodules; Atractylodes tonifies qi, strengthens the spleen, dries dampness, and promotes diuresis. When combined, these two herbs can clear heat, nourish yin, soften hardness, disperse nodules, strengthen the spleen, and dry dampness. This combination is indicated for malaria with alternating chills and fever that has persisted for a long time, hard lumps under the flanks, and the manifestation of “malaria mother” (a specific condition associated with malaria).
8. Turtle Shell Combined with Cimicifuga: Turtle Shell excels at softening hardness and dispersing nodules, as well as nourishing yin and subduing yang; Cimicifuga excels at dispersing wind-heat, clearing heat, and resolving toxins. When combined, these two herbs can soften hardness, disperse nodules, nourish yin, subdue yang, clear heat, and resolve toxins. This combination is indicated for conditions of heat-toxin injuring yin, characterized by a flushed face with a brocade-like pattern, indicative of yang-toxin syndrome.
9. Turtle Shell Combined with Tussilago Flower: Turtle Shell excels at nourishing yin and subduing yang; Tussilago Flower excels at resolving phlegm and relieving cough. When combined, these two herbs can nourish yin, moisten the lungs, relieve cough, and resolve phlegm. This combination is suitable for treating pulmonary atrophy with cough and sputum production.
Medicinal Identification
1. Turtle Shell vs. Turtle Shell Gel: The two are similar in nature, properties, functions, and main indications; however, Turtle Shell Gel excels at nourishing yin, nourishing blood, and reducing fever, while also being able to stop bleeding.
2. Raw Turtle Shell and Processed Turtle Shell: Since the Han Dynasty, the preparation of turtle shell has involved the use of auxiliary materials, and various preparation methods have existed. In recent years, most regional preparation standards have included the method of stir-frying with sand and quenching with vinegar; clinically, processed turtle shell is the most commonly used.Raw softshell turtle shell is hard in texture and has a fishy, foul odor. It excels at nourishing yin, clearing heat, subduing yang, and calming wind, and is primarily used to treat febrile diseases that injure yin, internal deficiency heat, and internal wind arising from deficiency. After being stir-fried with sand and quenched in vinegar, the texture of the softshell turtle shell changes from hard to crisp; this not only makes it easier to pulverize and extract its active ingredients but also eliminates its unpleasant taste and odor.Vinegar processing also enhances its ability to enter the Liver meridian, eliminate food stagnation, soften hard masses, and disperse nodules; therefore, processed turtle shell has a stronger effect in softening hard masses and dispersing nodules, and is frequently used for masses and accumulations, yin deficiency with tidal fever, and amenorrhea.Research indicates that the protein content of soft-shelled turtle shell is essentially similar before and after processing; however, the extraction rate significantly increases after processing. After 3 hours of decoction, the amount of protein extracted is 11.6 times that of the raw product, and the calcium extraction rate is also more than 10 times higher than that of the raw product.
3. Turtle Shell vs. Soft-shelled Turtle Shell: Both are the shells of aquatic animals; both have a salty taste and a cold nature, and both enter the Liver and Kidney meridians. They are both capable of nourishing Yin, subduing Yang, and clearing heat, and are used to treat fever due to Yin deficiency, bone-consumptive fever, dizziness and vertigo caused by Yin deficiency with hyperactive Yang, and internal wind arising from deficiency.However, turtle shell also enters the Heart Meridian; it has a strong ability to nourish yin and is particularly effective at tonifying the kidneys and strengthening the bones, nourishing the blood and tonifying the heart, and consolidating the menstrual channels to stop bleeding. Therefore, it is frequently used for yin deficiency with hyperactivity of yang, as well as for kidney deficiency manifesting as weakness in the lower back and legs, frail tendons and bones, failure of the fontanelle to close, heart deficiency with palpitations, insomnia, and forgetfulness, as well as for metrorrhagia and menorrhagia caused by yin deficiency with blood heat and instability of the Chong and Ren meridians.Soft-shelled turtle shell also enters the Spleen Meridian; it has a strong ability to clear heat and is particularly effective at softening hardness and dispersing nodules. Therefore, it is frequently used for fever due to yin deficiency, as well as for treating masses and accumulations, chronic malaria and malaria parasites, enlargement of the liver and spleen, and amenorrhea.
4. Artemisia annua and Turtle Shell: Both are cold in nature and enter the Liver Meridian; they share the ability to clear deficient heat and eliminate bone-steaming fever. They are similarly used to treat persistent low-grade fever in the late stages of febrile diseases, fever due to Liver and Kidney yin deficiency, bone-steaming fever and tidal fever, night sweats, and seminal emission, and are often used in combination.Artemisia annua has a bitter and pungent taste and enters the Liver and Gallbladder meridians. It excels at cooling the blood and clearing latent heat, and can also relieve summer heat and arrest malaria. It is used to treat internal disturbance caused by deficient fire, with symptoms such as fever at night and coolness in the morning, red lips and flushed cheeks, as well as external invasion by summer heat, fever with thirst, and the alternating chills and fever of malaria.Soft Turtle Shell has a salty taste and enters the Spleen Meridian. It excels at nourishing yin, clearing heat, calming the liver, and subduing yang. It can also soften hardness and disperse nodules, and is particularly effective for treating febrile diseases that injure yin, internal wind arising from deficiency, spasms and convulsions, chronic malaria and malaria-inducing factors, masses and lumps, as well as blood stasis causing amenorrhea.
5. Oyster Shell and Turtle Carapace: Both have a salty taste, a slightly cold nature, and enter the Liver Meridian. They function to calm the liver and subdue its yang, soften hardness, and disperse nodules. They are primarily used to treat yin deficiency with excessive yang, dizziness and vertigo, internal wind arising from deficiency, and masses and lumps.However, oyster shell has an astringent taste and enters the Kidney meridian; it excels at calming shock and soothing the spirit, as well as astringing and consolidating. It also treats restlessness, palpitations, insomnia, spontaneous sweating, night sweats, seminal emission, and metrorrhagia and leukorrhea. Turtle shell also enters the Spleen meridian; it excels at nourishing yin, clearing heat, and eliminating night sweats, while also promoting blood circulation. It treats heat-related yin deficiency, fever at night and coolness in the morning, yin deficiency fever, and bone-steaming and tidal fevers.
Related Medicines
Zhonghua Ganling Capsules, Ganfulele Tablets.
Related Prescriptions
Artemisia and Turtle Carapace Decoction (*Treatise on the Differentiation of Warm Diseases*), Gentiana and Turtle Carapace Powder (*Treasury of Health*), and Turtle Carapace Decoction Pills (*Essentials of the Golden Cabinet*).
Medicinal Diet Therapy
Soft-Shelled Turtle Carapace Stewed with Chicken:
1. Efficacy: Nourishes yin and strengthens body fluids. Primarily treats impotence caused by yin deficiency with excessive fire, accompanied by heat in the palms, soles, and chest; scanty, red urine; dry, hard stools; tinnitus; and lower back soreness.
2. Ingredients: 1 soft-shelled turtle carapace, 1 hen, and appropriate amounts of rice wine, scallions, ginger, and salt.
3. Preparation: First, place the softshell turtle shell in a pot and stew for 1 hour. Then add the chicken. Once the chicken is tender, remove from heat. Season to taste.
4. Usage: Consume in divided doses.
Processing & Preparation
Harvesting & Processing
Captured in spring, summer, or fall; the carapace is cut off with a knife, all residual flesh is thoroughly removed, and it is sun-dried.
Processing Methods
1. Turtle Carapace: Place the raw material in hot water and immediately use a stiff brush to thoroughly remove all skin and flesh; then sun-dry. Alternatively, place it in a steamer and steam over boiling water for 45 minutes; remove, wash thoroughly, and expose to sunlight during the day and moonlight at night until all odor is gone; then dry.
2. Vinegar-Treated Turtle Carapace: Place sand in a pot and roast over high heat. Add the cleaned turtle carapace and stir-fry until the surface turns yellow. Remove, sift out the sand, and quench in vinegar while still hot. Remove, dry, and crush. Use 20 kg of vinegar for every 100 kg of turtle carapace.
3. Processed Turtle Carapace: Place sand in a pot and roast over high heat. Add the turtle carapace and stir-fry until the surface turns pale yellow. Remove, sift out the sand, and allow to cool.
Storage Methods
Store in a dry, airtight container in a well-ventilated, dry place. Protect from moth damage.
Crude Drug Identification
Properties of Crude Drugs
It is oval or ovoid in shape, with a convex dorsal surface, measuring 10–15 cm in length and 9–14 cm in width. The outer surface is dark brown or dark green with a slight luster, featuring fine reticulated wrinkles and grayish-yellow or grayish-white spots. There is a longitudinal ridge in the center, with eight symmetrical transverse grooves on each side. After the outer skin peels off, serrated interlocking seams become visible.The inner surface is off-white, with a prominent vertebral column in the center; the cervical vertebrae are curled inward, and there are 8 ribs on each side extending beyond the edges. The texture is hard. It has a faint fishy odor and a bland taste.
Properties of Processed Slices
1. Turtle Carapace: Irregular fragments; hard in texture; with a fishy odor; bland in taste.
2. Vinegar-Processed Turtle Carapace: Resembles turtle carapace; deep yellow in color; crisp and brittle in texture; with a slight vinegar odor.
3. Prepared Turtle Carapace: Resembles turtle carapace; yellow in color; crisp and brittle in texture.
Botanical Information
Morphological Characteristics
The body is oval or nearly oval in shape, with adults measuring approximately 30–40 cm in total length.The head is pointed, with a long snout forming a short, tubular rostrum; the nostrils are located at the tip of the rostrum; the upper and lower jaw margins are covered with keratinous sheaths and lack teeth; the eyes are small; the pupils are round; the eardrum is not distinct; the neck can reach a length of over 70 mm; the base of the neck lacks granular warts; and the head and neck can be completely retracted into the shell.Both the dorsal and ventral carapaces lack keratinous plates and are covered with leathery, soft skin; the margins are lined with soft, relatively thick connective tissue, commonly referred to as a “skirt.” The dorsal skin features small protruding warts arranged in longitudinal ridges; the central dorsal region is slightly convex. There are 8 pairs of vertebral plates and 8 pairs of costal plates; there are no ischial plates, and the margins are not connected by marginal plates.The dorsal scutes are not fully ossified; the ribs are fused with the costal scutes, and their tips protrude beyond the lateral edges of the costal scutes. The limbs are relatively flat; the forelimbs have five digits. The inner three digits have exposed claws, while the claws of the outer two digits are completely enclosed by skin and not exposed. The claws on the hind limbs follow the same pattern, and the webbing between the fingers and toes is well-developed.Males have a flatter body and a longer tail, the tip of which extends beyond the skirt; females have a thick, short tail that does not extend beyond the skirt. The cloacal opening is longitudinally slit. The upper surface of the head and neck is olive green, while the underside is yellow; there are yellow markings from the lower jaw to the throat; black stripes run in front of and behind both eyes; and there are more than 10 black spots on the top of the head behind the eyes.The dorsal surface is olive-green or dark brown with black spots; the ventral surface is flesh-yellow, with large green markings on the flanks near the skirt edges and two pea-sized green spots near the tail. The upper surface of the forelimbs is olive-green; the underside is pale yellow, while the upper surface of the hindlimbs is lighter in color. The central portion of the tail is olive-green, with the remainder pale yellow.
Distribution Area
It is widely distributed throughout the country, except in Xinjiang, Ningxia, Qinghai, and Tibet, where no records have been reported.