Research progress in functional dyspepsia relevant to traditional Chinese medicine based on the theory of brain-gut axis / 中南大学学报(医学版)

ABSTRACT

The incidence of functional dyspepsia (FD) is closely related to the dysfunction of brain-gut axis (BGA). Brain gut peptide (BGP) is expressed in the brain and gastrointestinal tract, which is important factor involved in BGA. FD is in the category of "stomach cramps" and "small full" in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). TCM believes that the brain and intestines are closely connected to each other and form a brain-gut interaction. Therefore, the intestinal function is regulated by the brain, which is consistent with the BGA theory of western medicine. Researchers for TCM verified that the clinical symptoms of FD could be alleviated by regulating BGP and/or BGA through experimental research, clinical prescription therapy, and clinical non-drug therapy. Although TCM has a unique therapeutic effect on the treatment of FD, it has not yet to verify that TCM exerts significant clinical efficacy on FD, which still requires high-quality evidence-based medical evidence verification.