The Pharmacological Research On Different Dosage Forms Of TCM Based On Systems Pharmacoloy

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), a typical ethnomedicine derived from the practiceof ancient Chinese herbal medicine through several thousand years of empirical testing andrefinement, has been successfully used in taming various kinds of diseases. The most commonpractice in TCM is the use of herbal combinations called formula, which which treats variousdiseases via potential herb interactions to maximize the efficacy and minimize the adverseeffects.. It is not just a simply pile of medicinal herbs, but is organized by the TCM theory andfollows the rule of drug compatibility and combination to treat various diseases. However, thecombination principle of herb formula still remains a mystery due to the lack of appropriatemethods. Moreover, due to that the material basis and the mechanism of action of TCM isintricate, the modernization research of TCM is challenging. Hence, a novel systemspharmacology model, integrating pharmacokinetic analysis, network targeting, pathway andsystems analyses, is specifically developed for identification of active compounds and studyof the mechanisms of action of TCM. In the present work, we apply systems pharmacology todissect the rule of drug combination for TCM, which is exemplified by one of the mostfamous and rigorous TCM formulae, Ma-huang Decoction (MHD). In addition, one of thewidely used TCM injection Reduning for the treatment of influenza is used to study themechanisms of action of TCM. Our main findings are displayed as following:(1)understanding the combination principle of TCM formula: Jun herb plays a leading role in aformula for treating diseases by acting on the main targets. Chen herb enhances the Junpharmacological action by interacting with the common targets of Jun, thus leading to thereduction of Jun dose in a prescription. And Zuo-Shi herbs can improve the bioavailabilityand decrease the toxicity of Jun-Chen herbs;(2) providing a new way of confronting theinfluenza with immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory agents, which may provide clues tomaking more effective therapeutics against influenza; and (3) demonstrating the therapeuticpolypharmacology of TCM formula, i.e., treating complex diseases by targeting multipletargets with more than one drug in the herbal combination. The multiple components herbalmedicines offer a unique opportunity to explore multiple disease-causing mechanismssimultaneously. Systems pharmacology-based study may not only open up the possibility to understand the TCM theory and the mechanisms of action of TCM in the context ofmolecular/systems network, but also might be beneficial to drug development andapplications.