Spectrum-Effect Relationships as a Systematic Approach to Traditional Chinese Medicine Research: Current Status and Future Perspectives

Molecules

Guan-Ling Xu²  Meng Xie²  Xiao-Yan Yang²  Yan Song¹  Cheng Yan²  Yue Yang²  Xia Zhang²  Zi-Zhen Liu²  Yu-Xin Tian²  Yan Wang²  Rui Jiang²  Wei-Rui Liu²  Xiao-Hong Wang²  Gai-Mei She² 

[1] Pharmacy College, Ningxia Medical University, Ningxia 750000, China; E-Mail:;School of Chinese Pharmacy, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100102, China; E-Mails:

关键词: spectrum-effect relationships;    traditional Chinese medicine;    Chinese herbal formulas;    fingerprints;    drug-containing serum;   

DOI  :  10.3390/molecules191117897

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Component fingerprints are a recognized method used worldwide to evaluate the quality of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs). To foster the strengths and circumvent the weaknesses of the fingerprint technique in TCM, spectrum-effect relationships would complementarily clarify the nature of pharmacodynamic effects in the practice of TCM. The application of the spectrum-effect relationship method is crucial for understanding and interpreting TCM development, especially in the view of the trends towards TCM modernization and standardization. The basic requirement for using this method is in-depth knowledge of the active material basis and mechanisms of action. It is a novel and effective approach to study TCMs and great progress has been made, but to make it more accurate for TCM research purposes, more efforts are needed. In this review, the authors summarize the current knowledge about the spectrum-effect relationship method, including the fingerprint methods, pharmacodynamics studies and the methods of establishing relationships between the fingerprints and pharmacodynamics. Some speculation regarding future perspectives for spectrum-effect relationship approaches in TCM modernization and standardization are also proposed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.