RESUMO
Decoction is one of the traditional dosage forms of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs). In addition to small molecular components, decoction also contains polysaccharides and other macromolecular components. For a long time, ethanol precipitation has been commonly used during TCMs based new drug development to remove "ineffective macromolecular components", and enrich "active small molecules components", so as to improve the subsequent formability of the preparations. With the recognition of the relationships between gut microbiota and host health/disease, and the potential prebiotic effects of natural polysaccharides, the important values of polysaccharides in TCMs decoctions have been gradually emerged. Based on the representative findings of our own research and the literatures, the potential prebiotics function of TCMs polysaccharides were reviewed regarding its related effects on host physiological and pathological processes of metabolic function, bowel function, immunity, inflammation, emotion and tumor, on the metabolism and absorption of coexisting small molecule components, as well as the structure-function features, so that the meanings of polysaccharides in TCMs decoction were discussed and emphasized, and hopefully to provide enlightenment for the premise of attaching importance to the existence of polysaccharide components in the process of innovative drug research and development based on classical and clinical TCMs prescriptions.