ABSTRACT
Since the emergence of the term "materia medica", scholars have proposed different opinions on its concept. This term has been used to refer to traditional Chinese medicines, or medical books, or traditional pharmacology. Due to the differences in the concept of materia medica, scholars also have controversies about the concept of herbalism. Herbalism is usually understood as traditional Chinese pharmacology. After years of evolution, the term "herbalism" has now possessed the characteristics of an independent discipline, which can be defined as an applied basic discipline that comprehensively utilizes traditional and modern technological methods to study the formation, development, and changes of traditional pharmacology and reveal the basic theories and application laws of traditional medicine. At present, the research content of herbalism mainly includes three aspects: materia medica history, materia medica literature, and traditional pharmacology. This study explores the disciplinary concepts and main research content of herbalism based on a systematic review of the literature about the concepts of materia medica and herbalism, with the aim of attracting more attention to promote the establishment and development of the discipline of herbalism.
Subject(s)
China , Drugs, Chinese Herbal , Herbal Medicine , Materia Medica , Medicine, Chinese Traditional , TechnologyABSTRACT
Shengnong's Classic of Materia Medica is the antecessor of existing monographs on Chinese materia medica (CMM) in China. Modern scholars have made a lot of achievements in the researching of the academic thinking of Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica. In the aspect of pharmaceutical research, most of them have the tendency of studying terrestrial and fresh-water aquatic CMM, while the research of traditional marine Chinese medicine is relatively less. At the same time, there is still controversy in the literature on the number of traditional marine Chinese medicines in Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica. By consulting ancient herbal literatures, and combining modern results of marine medicine research in different disciplines including biology, mineralogy, history, geography, and so on, this paper analyzed and compared the cultivar classification, habitats distribution, and the differences of species and number of marine medicine in different literatures, thoroughly and deeply researched the 11 species which are always arguable, put forward that a total of 12 marine Chinese herbs such as seaweed, oyster shell, crude salt were recorded in Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica. The research results of this article provided a useful reference for the academic research of marine medicine of Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica.
ABSTRACT
Materia medica is the traditional medicine theory under the guidance of the traditional "medicine" science collectively. The toxicity theory of Chinese materia medica (CMM) is contained in the herbal theory of herbs, and the paradigm of hermeneutics is the guideline applied in writing the herbal literature. The form of the theory of toxicity is the result of the formation of mainstream of series of materia medica such as Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica. Its formation is the condensation under the conception of Never end in the Han Dynasty, which contains the medicinal properties, toxic and side effects, compatibility, and other complex oriented. The exploration of the traditional "do not die" medicinal part should return to the four gas and odor thickness of the account; the original part of improper medicine should belong to the control of the source of medicine; Special physical adverse drug reactions should not be attributed to toxicity, due to dose or improper use of the adverse reactions should be returned to the relevant state departments under the proposed project; Toxic classification criteria must be based on modern toxicology research while strictly limiting the dose and scope of application. This will help to re-build CMM safety and maximize the characteristics of CMM to the modern herbal medicine.
ABSTRACT
The construction of traditional theory of Chinese herbalism cannot do without the accumulated understanding of herb effect in clinical practice.Meanwhile,it closely relates to the natural history of using different theories of herb property to explain effect and mechanism at different stages.The compilation of Inner Canon of Yellow Emperor 《(黄帝内经》) and Shennong Bencao Jing 《神农本草经》) represent the initial formation of traditional herbalism in Chinese medicine.These two books have a relatively complete description of property and effects of herbs,but with different focus of concerning.After Shennong Bencao Jing,explaining the effect from property of herbs gradually become the developing trend and basic characteristics of herbalism.During the Ming-Qing Dynasties,publication of a large number of herbal annotation works further highlights this feature.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:To interpret the contribution of Sun Simiao Qianjin Yi Fang to herbalism. METHODS:Using“Sun Simiao”“Qianjin Yi Fang”“herbalism”and other words as key words,related literatures were retrieved from CNKI,Wanfang,Dayi Yixue database and so on during 1983-2015;four aspects explained in Qianjin Yi Fang by Sun Simiao were summarized,involving“herb gathering season ranking the first”“nomen proprium ranking the second”“herb source ranking the third”and“prescription rank-ing the forth”. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS:More than 50 literatures were collected,including 14 effective literatures. It is the quintessence of precious experience that herbalism is placed in the front of Sun Simiao Qianjin Yi Fang,which greatly contributes to herbalism.“Herb gathering season ranking the first”is the true essence of herb quality guarantee;“nomen proprium ranking the second”guarantees accurate use of herb in the clinic fundamentally;“herb source ranking the third”lays the foundation of therapeu-tic efficacy;“prescription ranking the forth”creates a new era of herb classification by functions.
ABSTRACT
This study took herbal medicinePoria cocosas an example to establish a method to explore the potential function of herbal medicine. And then, the new function was identified through the systematic study. It was able to improve the application range of herbal medicine and the clinical therapeutic effects. The established database management system ofPu-Ji-Fanghad been used for the searching ofPoria cocosin the treatment of different diseases in order to receive the compound prescription containedPoria cocos in different diseases. Then, indications recorded in herbalism literatures through dynasties and thePharmacopoeia of People’s Republic of China(Chinese Pharmacopoeia) were compared. Through statistical analysis and logical judgment, as well as the combination of modern pharmacological research results and clinical therapeutic evaluations, the overall understanding on conventional and potential functions ofPoria cocos were received. The results showed that the functions ofPoria cocos summarized through dynasties contained alleviating thirst, eliminating phlegm, enhancing memory, astringent, relieving cough and vomiting, invigorating blood circulation, promoting appetite and securing fetus, as well as treatment of deficiency, vomiting, stroke, diabetes, cough, cold damage syndrome, convulsion and other syndrome, were not recorded in theChinese Pharmacopoeia. It was concluded that tonifying kidney, relieving cough and phlegm, relieving vomiting, alleviating thirst, expelling wind, relieving convulsion and securing fetus were the potential function ofPoria cocos, which should arouse the attention from the academic community.
ABSTRACT
Through the investigation ofGentiana macrophylla in herbalism literatures, ancient prescriptions and theChinese Pharmacopoeia 2010 edition, we found that functions from ancient herbalism and prescriptions were in conformity with those from theChinese Pharmacopoeia. However, other functions recorded in ancient literatures such as dissipating wind, calming the liver to stop wind, clearing heat-fire, stopping bleeding, relieving cough were not included in theChinese Pharmacopoeia. With modern studies on pharmacodynamics and clinical applications, these functions were primarily conformed as the lost potential functions ofG. macrophylla.
ABSTRACT
This study was aimed to investigate the functions and indications ofRehmannia glutinosa from old herbalism documents. The database management system ofPu-Ji-Fang was used to summarize the whole function, which was compared with theChinese Pharmacopoeia 2010 edition. The results showed that besides the same function,R. glutinosa was also widely used in the treatment of various heat syndromes, deficiency, sore ulcer, traumatism, irregular menstruation, arthralgia, blood stasis, apoplexia, cough, restlessness, and etc. With modern studies on pharmacodynamics and clinical applications, potential functions ofR. glutinosa were primarily conformed as clearing heat-fire (clearing heat-toxin), tonifying, promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis, soothing nerves, calming liver to extinguish wind, and removing wind-damp syndromes.
ABSTRACT
Through the investigation on functions of E.rutaecarpain ancient herbal literatures,ancient prescriptions and the Chinese Pharmacopoeia(2010 edition),it showed that the basic function of E.rutaecarpa recorded in herbal literatures through dynasties was similar to that of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia.However,the disappearance of Euodia rutaecarpa's functions in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia were dampness-eliminating,blood-activating,spleen-invigorating,phlegm-eliminating,wind-dispelling,and guiding fire to its source,which had been recorded in ancient herb literatures.ThePu-Ji-Fang database management system contained prescriptions with Euodia rutaecarpa in the treatment of asthenia,Bi syndrome,stroke,scabies,edema,phlegm,leukorrhagia,epigastric pain,menoxenia,lochiostasis,fractures,sore,aphtha,and etc,which were absent from the Chinese Pharmacopoeia.In conclusion,we preliminarily confirmed that Euodia rutaecarpahad potential functions in activating blood to resolve stasis,dispelling wind and eliminating dampness,nourishing deficiency and invigorating the spleen,resolving toxins,relieving cough and eliminating phlegm,soothing liver to stop wind,as well as stopping bleeding.
ABSTRACT
This article was aimed to study potential functions of Mori Cortex. Through the investigation of Mori Cortex in ancient herbal literatures, ancient prescriptions, the 2010 edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, current pharmacodynamics and clinical studies, potential functions of Mori Cortex that had been lost were analyzed through comparative analysis. The results showed that the confirmed core functions of Mori Cortex recorded in ancient materia medica were in consistent with its applications in ancient prescriptions and its records in theChinese Pharmacopoeia. The functions summarized from the materia medica literatures contained potential functions such as supplementing qi, promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis, encouraging production of body fluids to extinguish thirst, removing phlegm, hemostasis, relieving stranguria, analgesia, expelling wind, and deworming. Mori Cortex compound prescription recorded in thePu-Ji-Fangdatabase were used in the treatment of consumptive disease, sore, typhoid, traumatic injury, stroke, diabetes, stranguria, arthralgia syndrome, phlegm, bleeding, various types of pain, parasitic diseases, poisonous insect bites, itching, and pox. All these potential functions of Mori Cortex were not included in theChinese Pharmacopoeia. It was concluded that combined with experimental researches and current clinical applications, potential functions such as supplementingqi, promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis, encouraging production of body fluids to extinguish thirst, removing phlegm, and relieving stranguria of Mori Cortex were confirmed.
ABSTRACT
This review aims to sensitize researchers, regulators and other stakeholders to the centrality of clinical research to drug development from herbs used in Traditional Medicine (TM). The review uncovered and dwelt on the fact that: While clinical trials of chemical medicines (pharmaceuticals) tend to come late in the drug development chain, the reverse is often the case with herbal medicines (phytomedicines). Once the decision is made to develop a single phytochemical entity (phytopharmaceutical, example: artemisinin) from a plant, the need for such sensitization is particularly desirable, given their huge socioeconomic implications. The review emphasized that drug development from a traditional herb can: i) take the route of standardization of the herb or its extract for immediate use without further chemical manipulations; or ii) proceed along the line of isolation and other manipulations aimed at optimising bioactivity. By the first route, development proceeds directly from confirming that the pharmacological property of the herb tallies with its traditional indication, leading instantly to value addition to traditional knowledge accumulated over years. This is because herbal medicines based on time tested traditions need not undergo phased trials as would a novel pharmaceutical (or an old herb for a new indication), since their long histories often offer evidence of their safety and efficacy. In the second route, clinical studies usually come later in the chain. This is because, unlike the traditional therapeutic, the new phytopharmaceutical, taken out of its natural microenvironment and subjected to various chemical manipulations, including purification, is no longer the equivalent of the ancient remedy with predicable effects. Moreover, in this later case, interest in the new entity (an artificially concentrate isolate) may shift completely from the traditional indication of the herb, hence the need for phased trials of phytopharmaceuticals (or an old herb for a new indication), despite their natural origin.