Intervention of Traditional Chinese Medicine in NLRP3 Signaling Pathway for Prevention and Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease： A Review / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Alzheimer's disease （AD） is a neurodegenerative disease often characterized by cognitive impairment in clinical practice. The main pathogenesis includes β amyloid protein （Aβ） excessive deposition， neuroinflammatory response， Tau protein hyperphosphorylation， and other factors， and currently only a few chemical drugs have been approved for clinical treatment of AD. The mechanism of action is relatively single， so it is imperative to find new treatment strategies. Traditional Chinese medicine theory believes that the loss of nourishment in the brain and marrow， as well as the loss of vital energy， is the internal mechanisms underlying the occurrence and development of AD， which runs through the entire treatment process. The pathogenesis of AD is closely related to the inflammasome signaling pathway of nucleotide binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3 （NLRP3）. Activating the NLRP3 signaling pathway increases neuroinflammatory response， intervenes in microglial polarization， and regulates Aβ sedimentation， cellular autophagy， brain homeostasis， etc. This article takes the NLRP3 signaling pathway as the starting point to sort out and summarize the upstream and downstream targets under the AD mechanism in the past five years， as well as the research on the NLRP3 signal pathway targets with the participation of the relevant traditional Chinese medicine compounds， such as Danggui Shaoyaosan， modified Shuyu Wan， Qingxin Kaiqiao prescription， Kaixin San， Jiedu Yizhi prescription， and modified Buwang San， traditional Chinese medicine monomer extracts， such as silibinin， Lycium barbarum polysaccharides， liquiritigenin， salidroside， baicalin， cinnamaldehyde， betaine， acacetin， and Hericium erinaceus， and acupuncture and moxibustion. It also reviews the latest achievements in the prevention and treatment of AD. This study provides ideas and directions for in-depth research on the prevention and treatment of cognitive dysfunction related diseases with traditional Chinese medicine.

Medication rules of traditional Chinese medicine compounds for pain / 中国中药杂志

The present study collected data on traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) compounds effective in relieving pain from the patent database of the State Intellectual Property Office(SIPO), sorted out the TCM compounds against pain in patents, and analyzed the medication rules to provide references for the research and development of new TCM drugs against pain. The data were subjected to frequency statistics, association rules, cluster analysis, and complex network analysis by IBM SPSS Modeler 18.3 and SPSS Statistical 26.0. The results showed that among the 101 oral prescriptions included in the statistics, the top 5 drugs were Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, Angelicae Sinensis Radix, Paeoniae Radix Alba, Chuanxiong Rhizoma, and Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, and among the 49 external prescriptions included in the statistics, the top 5 drugs were Myrrha, Olibanum, Angelicae Dahuricae Radix, Borneolum Syntheticum, and Chuanxiong Rhizoma. Whether oral or external prescriptions, the drugs were mainly warm in nature, and bitter, pungent, and sweet in flavor. According to TCM complex network analysis, the core drugs were Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, Angelicae Sinensis Radix, Paeoniae Radix Alba, and Chuanxiong Rhizoma in oral prescriptions, and Olibanum, Myrrha, Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, Chuanxiong Rhizoma, and Angelicae Sinensis Radix in external prescriptions. Overall, the therapeutic principles of oral prescriptions were mainly replenishing Qi, nourishing blood, and promoting Qi and blood circulation, while those of external prescriptions were activating blood, resolving stasis, promoting Qi flow, and relieving pain on the basis of the oral prescriptions. In the future research and development of TCM compounds against pain, the prescriptions should be modified with mind-tranquilizing and depression-relieving drugs. With the modernization of TCM, the development of new pain-relieving TCM compound patents based on ancient methods and clinical experience adhering to the guidance of TCM treatment based on syndrome differentiation can meet the new demand for pain treatment in the current society and give full play to the advantages of TCM in pain treatment.

Research progress on traditional Chinese medicine compounds combined with external therapy in treatment of hyperplasia of mammary glands / 中国中药杂志

Hyperplasia of mammary glands is a benign breast disease with disordered breast structure. Nowadays, the incidence rate of breast hyperplasia in women is increasing year by year, and the etiology is related to the imbalance of estrogen and progesterone in the body. The symptoms include breast pain, breast nodules, or nipple discharge, which can develop into breast cancer in the context of psychological pressure. Therefore, it is timely and effectively necessary for people to treat the symptoms. At present, traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) often treats breast hyperplasia by oral drug, external application, acupuncture, moxibustion, and massage, while western medicine often uses hormone therapy or surgery. TCM can regulate hormone levels to treat breast hyperplasia. Acupuncture, moxibustion, and other methods can stimulate acupoints to reduce breast lumps. However, since TCM is easy to produce hepatorenal toxicity after long-term use and simple external treatment is slow to take effect, rapid and effective treatment is difficult to be achieved. Although western medicine can inhibit the disease, it is easy to produce toxic and side effects if taken for a long time. In addition, surgery can only remove the focus and the recurrence rate is high. Some studies have found that the combination of oral and external use of TCM compounds has a significant effect, with mild toxic and side effects, few adverse reactions, and a low recurrence rate. Based on the relevant literature in recent years, this article reviewed the combination of oral and external treatment of TCM in the treatment of hyperplasia of mammary glands, discussed the effectiveness, clinical evaluation indexes, and mechanism, and pointed out the existing shortcomings to explore a comprehensive therapy worthy of clinical application.

Homogenization of Key Components Screening of "Different Diseases and Different Prescriptions" in Network Pharmacology / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Network pharmacology （NP） is a novel interdisciplinary subject based on the combination of systems biology， multi-omics theory， computer synthesize， network database， and so on. It is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） for active component screening， compatibility rule， pharmacological mechanism， and toxicity-efficacy network. Domestic NP-related papers began to boost from 2017， but some research showed abnormal "homogenization" in the screening of key components. Due to the non-standard and unreasonable situation in early NP analysis， the screening results always contained the same and widely-existed 200-500 Chinese medicine substances as the key components for TCM compounds， regardless of the various “disease-treatment-medicine” approaches to the study. If the "homogenization" phenomenon cannot be promptly clarified and corrected， it will lead to the misunderstanding that the components such quercetin， kaempferol， and sitosterol are "guaranteed to cure all diseases"， which overestimates the pharmacological weights of the components in each disease. This phenomenon seriously interferes the selection and quality control of Q-Markers related to TCM compounds. It violates and negates the scientific connotation of "treating the same disease with different therapies" and "treating different diseases with the same therapy" guided by the holistic view and the theory of syndrome differentiation and treatment. In the long term， the "homogenization" phenomenon may even hinder the healthy development of NP in TCM. Based on TCM theory and modern medicine， this paper started with the "thomogenization" of component screening in NP， and analyzed from the three module of "tphenomenon consequences"， "tcause exploration"， and "tsolving strategies"， thus providing important references for NP research methods.

Homogenization of Key Components Screening of "Different Diseases and Different Prescriptions" in Network Pharmacology / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Network pharmacology （NP） is a novel interdisciplinary subject based on the combination of systems biology， multi-omics theory， computer synthesize， network database， and so on. It is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） for active component screening， compatibility rule， pharmacological mechanism， and toxicity-efficacy network. Domestic NP-related papers began to boost from 2017， but some research showed abnormal "homogenization" in the screening of key components. Due to the non-standard and unreasonable situation in early NP analysis， the screening results always contained the same and widely-existed 200-500 Chinese medicine substances as the key components for TCM compounds， regardless of the various “disease-treatment-medicine” approaches to the study. If the "homogenization" phenomenon cannot be promptly clarified and corrected， it will lead to the misunderstanding that the components such quercetin， kaempferol， and sitosterol are "guaranteed to cure all diseases"， which overestimates the pharmacological weights of the components in each disease. This phenomenon seriously interferes the selection and quality control of Q-Markers related to TCM compounds. It violates and negates the scientific connotation of "treating the same disease with different therapies" and "treating different diseases with the same therapy" guided by the holistic view and the theory of syndrome differentiation and treatment. In the long term， the "homogenization" phenomenon may even hinder the healthy development of NP in TCM. Based on TCM theory and modern medicine， this paper started with the "thomogenization" of component screening in NP， and analyzed from the three module of "tphenomenon consequences"， "tcause exploration"， and "tsolving strategies"， thus providing important references for NP research methods.

Innovation of traditional Chinese medicine compounds and patent layout strategy with Lianhua Qingwen Formula as example / 中国中药杂志

The innovation and patent layout of traditional Chinese medicine compounds reflects the innovation level of the traditio-nal Chinese medicine industry to a certain extent. Lianhua Qingwen Formula was taken as an example to analyze the innovation and patent layout of traditional Chinese medicine compounds. The study first proposed an innovative technology system for traditional Chinese medicine compounds, and then analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of Lianhua Qingwen Formula in innovation and patent layout based on 56 patents and other relevant patents. The analysis results showed that Lianhua Qingwen Formula had the following characte-ristics in terms of patent layout. In terms of innovation technical route, the patented technical route of Lianhua Qingwen Formula was mainly based on the composition and preparation of granules as the first choice, followed by corresponding process improvements, new uses, and detection methods as the main improvement routes. In terms of the corresponding patent layout, the basic patent protection scope of Lianhua Qingwen Formula completely covered marketed drugs, and then took new functions as the main layout strategy for subsequent patent applications. With the advancement of modern technical means, the preparation process and testing methods have been optimized continuously. At the same time, the international patent layout was given the priority in domestic patent application. Based on the above characteristics, the study gave suggestions for follow-up innovation and patent work for Lianhua Qingwen Formula, so as to provide enlightenment for other traditional Chinese medicine companies in exploring original innovation of traditional Chinese medicine compounds, improving innovative methods, and enhancing the ability of patent layout of innovative achievements.