Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Traditional Chinese Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology

Drug Discovery and Evaluation: Methods in Clinical Pharmacology

  • 703 Accesses

Abstract

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) represents thousands of years in treatment protocols for health, healing, and longevity and has evolved into a complex healthcare system. The following chapter is designed to give a basic concise overview of TCM principles and practices, in relation to clinical pharmacology, and focuses on mutually relevant areas of interest. Much as society learned to harness electrical currents to empower machinery, TCM theories of energetic patterns help to empower the functionality of the human body. The major theories include the vital life force, known as Qi, Yin and Yang, Five Elements, herbal medicine, multivariate diagnostics, syndrome differentiation, and acupuncture, among others. In TCM, there is a direct relationship to the energy of nature and the energetic patterns within the human body and the human consciousness. This comprehensive approach is gaining momentum in clinical and network pharmacology, as new technologies emerge regarding TCM collaborative compounds versus singular chemical constituents in treatment modalities. Of major importance to clinical pharmacology are recent TCM evidenced-based empirical studies, correlations, and interactions between herbs and pharmaceuticals, updated data on toxicity, adverse reactions, quality assurance, and herbal medicine standardization. Global concerns over antimicrobial resistance to drugs have put a spotlight on TCM herbal medicines as alternatives with greatly reduced resistance factors. From ancient archives to the Nobel Prize to a formal endorsement by the World Health Organization as a global healthcare system, TCM has widened the lens of modern science. It offers the wisdom and experience of millennia to inspire the think tank of today’s medicine and pharmacology and tomorrow’s generations of integrative healthcare advancements.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References and Further Reading

  • Afshin A et al (2019) Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet 393:1958–1972

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Appari M et al (2014) Sulforaphane, quercetin and catechins complement each other in elimination of advanced pancreatic cancer by miR-let-7 induction and K-ras inhibition. Int J Oncol 45:1391–1400

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bensky D (2015) Chinese herbal medicine: materia medica, 3rd edn. Eastland Press, Seattle

    Google Scholar 

  • Boh B et al (2007) Ganoderma lucidum and its pharmaceutically active compounds. Biotechnol Annu Rev 13:265–301

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen CJ, et al. (2008) Toona sinensis Roem tender leaf extract inhibits SARS coronavirus replication, J Ethnopharmacol Oct 30;120(1):108–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen CY (2011) TCM database@Taiwan: the world’s largest traditional Chinese medicine database for drug screening in silico. PLoS One 6:e15939. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0015939

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Chen JK, Chen TT (2004) Chinese medical herbology & pharmacology. Art of Medicine Press, City of Industry

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, JK (2020) How COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) is Currently Treated in China with TCM, https://www.elotus.org/article/how-covid-19-2019-ncov-currently-treated-china-tcm

  • Cragg GM, Newman DJ, Snader KM (1997) Natural products in drug discovery and development. J Nat Prod 60:52–60

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dillon J (2007) From the potion to the pill. Yale Medicine. https://medicine.yale.edu/news/yale-medicine-magazine/from-the-potion-to-the-pill/

  • Duke-Margolis, Center for Health Policy, FDA (2018) Identifying the root causes of drug shortages and finding enduring solutions. Duke University and FDA Presentation, Washington, DC. https://healthpolicy.duke.edu/sites/default/files/atoms/files/dukefda_drug_shortages_presentation_slides__0.pdf

    Google Scholar 

  • Eban K (2019) Bottle of lies: the inside story of the generic drug boom. Harper Collins, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekor M (2014) The growing use of herbal medicines: issues relating to adverse reactions and challenges in monitoring safety. Front Pharmacol 4:177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fabricant DS, Farnsworth NR (2001) The value of plants used in traditional medicine for drug discovery. Environ Health Perspect 109(Suppl 1):69–75

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fan X et al (2011) Network toxicology and its application to traditional Chinese medicine. Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi 36:2920–2922

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fan AY et al (2017) Acupuncture’s role in solving the opioid epidemic: evidence, cost-effectiveness, and care availability for acupuncture as a primary, non-pharmacologic method for pain relief and management. J Integr Med 15(6):411–425. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2095-4964(17)60378-9

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hamburger M, Hostettmann K (1989) Analytical aspects of drugs of natural origin. J Pharm Biomed Anal 7:1337–1349

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • He LS et al (2016) Administration of traditional chinese blood circulation activating drugs for microvascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. J Doabetes Res 2016:1081657

    Google Scholar 

  • Ideker T et al (2001) A new approach to decoding life: systems biology. Annu Rev Genomics Hum Genet 2:343–372

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jia DD (1979) Concise history of Chinese medicine (Zhong Guo Yi Xue Shi Lue). Shanxi People’s Press, Taoyuan

    Google Scholar 

  • Jiang WY (2005) Therapeutic wisdom in traditional Chinese medicine: a perspective from modern science. Trends Pharmacol Sci 26:558–563

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kola I, Landis J (2004) Can the pharmaceutical industry reduce attrition rates? Nat Rev Drug Discov 3:711–715

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lei X et al (2015) Liver damage associated with Polygonum multiflorum Thunb.: a systematic review of case reports and case series. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2015:459749. Epub 2015 Jan 12. Review

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li S, Zhang B (2013) Traditional Chinese medicine network pharmacology: theory, methodology and application. Chin J Nat Med 11:110–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li S et al (2011) Network target for screening synergistic drug combinations with application to traditional Chinese medicine. BMC Syst Biol 5(Suppl 1):S10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li QY et al (2013) Network pharmacology: a new approach for Chinese herbal medicine research. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2013:1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Li S et al (2014) Network pharmacology in traditional Chinese medicine. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2014:138460

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Liang X et al (2014) A novel network pharmacology approach to analyse traditional herbal formulae: the Liu-Wei-Di-Huang pill as a case study. Mol BioSyst 10:1014–1022

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Light D (2014) New prescription drugs: a major health risk with few offsetting advantages new prescription drugs: Harvard-Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics. https://ethics.harvard.edu/blog/new-prescription-drugs-major-health-risk-few-offsetting-advantages

  • Liu XF, et al (2010) PharmMapper server: a web server for potential drug target identification using pharmacophore mapping approach, Nucleic Acids Research, Nucleic Acids Research, 38(suppl_2):W609–W614.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu L et al (2014) Triptolide reverses hypoxia-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition and stem-like features in pancreatic cancer by NF-κB downregulation. Int J Cancer 134:2489–2503

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ma Y et al (2019) Prevention and treatment of infectious diseases by traditional Chinese medicine: a commentary. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com. 24 May 2019

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maciocia G (2015) The foundations of Chinese medicine, 3rd edn. Hardcover, Churchill Livingstone, London. ISBN 9780702052163

    Google Scholar 

  • McCulloch M, Marshall AC, Nachat A (2018) Modern thoracic oncology, vol 1. World Scientific, New Jersey, pp 261–267

    Google Scholar 

  • McDonald J, Janz S (2017) Acupuncture evidence project: a comparative literature review. Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Association, Brisbane, p 181. http://www.acupuncture.org.au/OURSERVICES/Publications/AcupunctureEvidenceProject.aspx

    Google Scholar 

  • Rates SMK (2001) Plants as source of drugs. Toxicon 39:603–613

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sperber G, Flaws B (2007) Integrated pharmacology: combining modern pharmacology with Chinese medicine. Blue Poppy Press, Boulder

    Google Scholar 

  • Swinney DC, Anthony J (2011) How were new medicines discovered? Nat Rev Drug Discov 10(7):507–519

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Veeresham C (2012) Natural products derived from plants as a source of drugs. J Adv Pharm Technol Res 3(4):200–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WHO (2002) Acupuncture: review and analysis of reports on controlled clinical trials. WHO, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • WHO (2004) SARS: Clinical trials on treatment using a combination of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine. http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Js6170e/4.html

  • WHO (2014) WHO traditional medicine strategy 2014–2023. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/medicines/publications/traditional/trm_strategy14_23/en/

  • WHO (2018) Newsroom health topics. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer

  • Williamson E et al (1996) Selection, preparation and pharmacological evaluation of plant material. Wiley, Chichester

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright CW et al (2010) Ancient Chinese methods are remarkably effective for the preparation of artemisinin-rich extracts of Qing Hao with potent antimalarial activity. Molecules 15(2):804–812

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Xiang Y et al (2019) Traditional Chinese medicine as a cancer treatment: modern perspectives of ancient but advanced science. Cancer Med 8:1958–1975. Published by Wiley

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yi F et al (2018) In silico approach in reveal traditional medicine plants pharmacological material basis. Chin Med 13:33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeng ZP Jiang JG (2010) Analysis of the adverse reactions induced by natural product-derived drugs. Br J Pharmacol 159(7):1374–1391

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang R et al (2017) TCM-Mesh: the database and analytical system for network pharmacology analysis for TCM preparations. Sci Rep 7:2821

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang R et al (2019) Network pharmacology databases for traditional Chinese medicine: review and assessment. Front Pharmacol 10:123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou X et al (2019) Current status and major challenges to the safety and efficacy presented by Chinese Herbal Medicine. Medicines (Basel) 6(1):1

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to extend her most sincere and heartfelt appreciation to Contributing Editor, Lorna Zilba, MA and the following persons who have graciously shared their time and expertise in reviewing this chapter and offering valuable commentary:

John K. Chen, PhD, Pharm D., OMD, LAc

Elizabeth Chen Christenson, MD, LAc

Edward B. Christenson, MD, Dipl.ABA

Cheryl Schwartz, DVM

Robert M. Grant, MA

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sequoia Healing Center for Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine, Alameda, CA, USA

    Anita Chen Marshall

  2. American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM), California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), San Francisco, CA, USA

    Anita Chen Marshall

  3. Bastyr University, Seattle, WA, USA

    Anita Chen Marshall

  4. John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Anita Chen Marshall

Authors
  1. Anita Chen Marshall
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anita Chen Marshall .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. CorDynamics, Dieburg, Germany

    Franz J. Hock

  2. CorDynamics, Chicago, IL, USA

    Michael R. Gralinski

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Marshall, A.C. (2019). Traditional Chinese Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology. In: Hock, F., Gralinski, M. (eds) Drug Discovery and Evaluation: Methods in Clinical Pharmacology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56637-5_60-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56637-5_60-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-56637-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-56637-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Traditional Chinese Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology
    Published:
    04 March 2021

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56637-5_60-2

  2. Original

    Traditional Chinese Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology
    Published:
    21 May 2020

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56637-5_60-1

Search

Navigation