Search

Huangqi Jianzhong Tang (HQJZ) is a classical traditional Chinese prescription for treating chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG). However, its material basis is still unclear. Thus, we constructed a novel strategy to illustrate its pharmaco basis coupled with metabolomics and serum pharmacochemistry. Plasma metabolic profile including control group, model group, HQJZ treated control group, and HQJZ treated model group were firstly detect by Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole-Exactive mass spectrometry. Eight endogenous metabolites were screened as the pharmaco markers of HQJZ, which were significantly ameliorated by HQJZ in model group but no significant change in control group. A total of 11 prototypical compounds and 13 metabolites of HQJZ were screening and identified in HQJZ intervention groups. Further pearson correlative analysis were applied to discover the effective compounds for HQJZ, which were significantly correlated with those pharmaco markers. At last, 12 prototypical compounds excepting isoliquiritigenin and 7 metabolites were considered as potential pharmacodynamic basis of HQJZ, which could hit more metabolite targets. The results revealed the links between serum exogenous and endogenous metabolites involved into the protection of HQJZ, which showed a powerful tool to obtain the material basis of TCM formula.

Ethnopharmacological relevance Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is one of the most common causes of chronic low back pain that spending a lot of workforces and financial resources, seriously affecting human physical and mental health. Clinically used drug treatments and surgical treatments cannot fundamentally relieve the disease and have a risk of recurrence. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has a history of more than a thousand years in the prevention and treatment of IDD. However, so far, there are few reviews on the treatment of IDD by TCM. Therefore, it is crucial and necessary to systematically mine the existing literature on the treatment of IDD with TCM. This paper strives to systematically describe the modern medicine and TCM theoretical research on IDD, progress in the treatment of IDD and focuses on the treatment of IDD by TCM, which would lay some theoretical foundation and provide new directions for future research. Materials and methods Information on clinical observations, animal experiments and relevant pharmacology data about the treatment of IDD were gathered from various sources including traditional Chinese books and Chinese Pharmacopoeia, scientific databases (Elsevier, PubMed, Science Direct, Baidu Scholar, CNKI, Spring Link, Web of Science) and from different professional websites. Results This review mainly introduces the current research on the theoretical research on IDD, the combination principle of the TCM formula, and the underlying mechanism of the formula and active ingredients. Conclusions At present, domestic and foreign scholars have carried out a lot of research in different ways, such as the molecular mechanism and predisposing factors of IDD, which provides theoretical development and clinical practice significance for future research. TCM, as a multi-component and multi-targeted drug, can produce synergistic effects to exert its efficacy. Therefore, the development of TCM with more specific functions and practical data will not only become a significant trend in the world market but also has an irreplaceable role in the future treatment of IDD.

For the first time, the principal actions or effects of individual herbs defined by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are considered to describe an herbal formula. Principal effects, natures, flavors, meridian affinity, l ifting, l owering, f loating and s inking (LLFS) and toxicity of single herbs are then combined with their dosages to generate formula descriptors in a linear manner. Herbal actions and properties defined by TCM theory are foundations of formula prescriptions. Therefore, the resulted formula descriptors will simulate a TCM doctor's knowledge well. Moreover, during the development of TCM for thousands of years, herbal actions and properties are well understood and one can generate descriptors for any TCM formula based on our method. To validate and demonstrate the usefulness of the newly proposed formula descriptors, a case study of quantitative formula–activity relationship (QFAR) of hypertension formulas is performed. Based on 64 general formula descriptors, least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) is used to discriminate the effective hypertension formulas from the negative ones. An external validation set is used to optimize LS-SVM parameters and evaluate the performance of classification models. The prediction accuracy of independent positive formulas and negative formulas are 93.1% and 96.5%, respectively. The new formula descriptors and the corresponding QFAR model can be used for preliminary screening of effective formulas from the massive TCM formula data distributed in various literatures and databases.

Objective The aim of this study is to determine the effects of aromatic acids on stimulating blood circulation and removing blood stasis. Methods A systematic study of aromatic acids concentration in the herbs frequently used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formula to stimulate blood circulation and remove blood stasis is performed to help to establish a bio-activity basis and a compatibility principle for TCM formula. Results Through the study, we find that aromatic acids' effect of stimulating blood circulation and removing blood stasis may be increased by combing with alkali. Besides, aromatic acid esters can better stimulate blood circulation and remove blood stasis. What's more, the solubilization of aromatic acids helps stimulating blood circulation and removing blood stasis. Conclusions Aromatic acids have been proved to be effective in preventing platelet aggregation and anti-thrombus. On the one hand, they have a biological contribution to TCM formula and on the other hand they improve blood circulation through working with other elements in the TCM formula. Aromatic acids make a lot of contributions to the whole TCM formula.

Along with frequently changed human disease spectrums, multicomponent drugs have attracted increasing attention of the mainstream international medical community. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been deemed one of the best choices for treating complex chronic diseases. In this context, people believe that TCM formula and Chinese patented medicine with proven effects are valuable assets for bringing out new drugs and that modernized composite medicine (MCM) can be developed enjoying TCM-specific merits, with rational compatibility, identical pharmaceutical ingredients, clearly defined mechanism, safety assurance, efficacy, and quality control. Such a MCM will become popular in the mainstream international medical market, allowing inventors being at an advantageous position in the international competition for innovative drugs. This paper proposes a technical roadmap for developing composite medicines, with a range of useful suggestions and solutions. It also presents a perspective for developing new composite medicines.

The authors of this paper discussed different thoughts and methods of system biology and its applications in TCM formula study. The research and development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula has attracted increasing attention in the TCM industry for many years. But the basis and mechanism of TCM has not been explained clearly yet, due to its multicomponent and multitarget nature. System biology could provide novel insights into the TCM research. Therefore, some difficulties in TCM formula study including physical basis of TCM therapeutic effects, rules of compatibility, pharmacology, and action mechanism will be well illustrated in an effective manner. The problem of "black box" in TCM study will be fully understood with the help of system biology.