Chinese Herbal Medicines Prevent and Treat Atopic Dermatitis by Improving Skin Barrier： A Review / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Atopic dermatitis is a chronic， refractory and inflammatory skin disease with the clinical manifestations of severe pruritus and recurrent attacks. It has a high incidence and is closely correlated with other allergic， autoimmune or infectious diseases， which can cause a variety of secondary diseases and mental and psychological disorders， seriously affecting the life quality of patients. Chinese herbal medicines have been used for the prevention and treatment of atopic dermatitis for thousands of years， and many Chinese herbal medicines （including compound prescriptions） effective for this disease have been recorded. These medicines generally have little adverse reactions and the treated patients have low recurrence rate of atopic dermatitis. According to the evidence of modern medicine， the onset of atopic dermatitis is related to the impairment of skin barrier function， abnormal immune response， and abnormal differentiation of mast cells， antigen-presenting cells， and eosinophils. Additionally， it is associated with mental， endocrine， metabolic and other factors. The defect of skin barrier function and the dysfunction of immune system are the main pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis. In recent years， scientists have achieved certain progress in improving skin barrier function with Chinese herbal medicines. This paper systematically summarizes the studies about the application of Chinese herbal medicines in regulating the expression of epidermal proteins， epidermal lipids， aquaporins， tight junction proteins， and antimicrobial peptides in recent 10 years， aiming to clarify the pathological mechanism and provide reference for the clinical research and application of Chinese herbal medicines in the treatment of atopic dermatitis.