Research strategies on orientated effective components of multi-effect Chinese materia medica / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Multi-effect is a universal phenomenon for Chinese materia medica (CMM). However, only part of the chemical ingredients of CMM show effectiveness in a given formulas for the specific disease, which were recognized as the orientated effective components. In this paper, a strategy on the identification of orientated effective components from multi-effect CMM has been put forward, aiming at the discovery of the orientated material basis for CMM and their mechanisms. Based on these two prerequisites, "compatibility of prescriptions" and "different diseases" or "multiple effects", this strategy is carried out to identify and verify the orientated components of CMM in different syndromes by reverse analysis in vivo, compound compatibility or decomposed recipe analysis and comparative analysis methods, which combined the two key techniques of metabolomics and structure elucidation. Taking Astragali Radix, a Shanxi authentic herb, as an example, a scientific method was constructed for the study of oriented effective components of multi-effect CMM. The results will be expected to explain the compatibility of prescriptions from the molecular level, specify the direction for the quality control of CMM based on efficacy, provide the research basis for the selection of appropriate raw materials for clinical application and Chinese patent medicine production, and provide the foundation for multi-fractions CMM discovery.