A pharmaceutical composition contains a therapeutically effective amount of an
active ingredient, in admixture with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or diluent
for the active ingredient, in which the active ingredient is i) a polar solvent
extract of Polygala, the polar solvent being water or a mixture of water and methanol
or ethanol; ii) an aqueous fraction resulting from an extraction of the polar solvent
extract with an organic solvent; iii) an organic eluate by introducing the polar
solvent extract or the aqueous fraction into a reverse phase chromatography column,
and eluting the column with water and an organic solvent; or iv) a filtrate having
a molecular mass less than 30000 in the organic eluate.
