Advances in the experimental research on traditional Chinese medicine against liver fibrosis / 临床肝胆病杂志

ABSTRACT

Liver fibrosis is the common pathological process of chronic liver diseases caused by various etiologies such as viral hepatitis and alcoholism, and it can progress to liver cirrhosis and even liver cancer and seriously threatens human health. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has the characteristics of multiple components, targets, and pathways in inhibiting the progression of liver fibrosis and promoting the reversal of liver fibrosis and thus has unique clinical efficacy. In recent years, great progress has been made in the experimental research on the anti-liver fibrosis potential of TCM, and related studies have found a variety of compound TCM prescriptions, single TCM medicine, and their effective constituents and revealed their potential mechanism of action from the cellular and molecular levels. In order to further clarify the advances in the experimental research on the anti-liver fibrosis potential of TCM, this article systematically reviews the research advances in the past five years from the aspects of experimental animal models for the anti-liver fibrosis potential of TCM, the mechanism of action of TCM in the treatment of liver fibrosis, and TCM research from animal experiments to clinical trials, so as to provide a reference for researchers and clinicians to develop and apply anti-liver fibrosis TCM drugs.