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Roles of Chinese Medicine and Gut Microbiota in Chronic Constipation

Authors :
Xu, Zhenyuan
Liu, Tianhao
Zhou, Qingli
Chen, Jing
Yuan, Jiali
Yang, Zhongshan
Source :
Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
Publication Year :
2019
Publisher :
Hindawi, 2019.

Abstract

Chronic constipation is a common gastrointestinal dysfunction, but its aetiology and pathogenesis are still unclear. Interestingly, the compositions of the gut microbiota in constipation patients and healthy controls are different. Various studies reported the different gut microbiota alterations in constipation patients, but most studies indicated that constipation patients showed the decreased beneficial bacteria and the reduced species richness of gut bacteria. Besides, the alterations in the gut microbiota may lead to constipation and constipation-related symptoms and the regulation of gut microbiota has a positive effect on gut functional diseases such as constipation. Microbial treatment methods, such as probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, and fecal microbiota transplantation, can be used to regulate gut microbiota. Increasing evidences have suggested that Chinese medicine (CM) has a good therapeutic effect on chronic constipation. Chinese medicine is well known for its multitarget and multimode effects on diseases as well as less side effects. In previous studies, after the treatment of constipation with CM, the gut microbiota was restored, indicating that the gut microbiota might be the target or important way for CM to exert its efficacy. In this review, we summarized the effects of microbial treatment and CM on the gut microbiota of constipation patients and discussed the relationship between CM and gut microbiota.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1741427X
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Accession number :
edsair.hindawi.publ..9c0cdfbcfa70af796ec5fe038a793ec1
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/9372563