苦甘草又名苦豆根或金锁匙,为豆科槐属植物,学名Sophora alopecuroides,形似甘草,药用其根或根茎,色黄或棕黑,味苦,产于内蒙、甘肃北部等地,中医用作清热解毒,治疗咽喉肿痛。1972年10月,我室用豚鼠喷雾引喘法,从过筛的中草药中,发现苦甘草煎剂的平喘作用较强,并进行了镇咳、祛痰、体内抗菌及毒性实验,亦曾试用于少数哮喘病人,由于味苦,病人不愿接受。其后由我校防治气管炎药化组初步提出 Bitter licorice, also known as bitter pea root or gold key, is a genus of leguminous genus, Sophora alopecuroides, which resembles licorice. Its roots or rhizomes are used medicinally. It is yellowish or brownish in color and bitter in taste. It is produced in Inner Mongolia, northern Gansu and other places. Chinese medicine is used as a detoxification agent to treat sore throats. In October 1972, our room used a guinea pig spray method to induce asthma. From the screened Chinese herbs, it was found that bitter licorice decoction has a strong anti-asthmatic effect, and antitussive, expectorant, antibacterial and toxicity tests in vivo were conducted. Tried to a small number of asthma patients, because of bitter taste, the patient did not want to accept. Afterwards, it was initially proposed by the School of Preventing and Treating Tracheitis.