Planta Med 2014; 80 - IL34
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1382325

TCM pharmacology and its role in the development of Traditional Chinese Medicine

DA Guo 1, X Liu 1, WY Wu 1, BH Jiang 1, M Yang 1
  • 1Shanghai Research Center for TCM Modernization, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, P. R. China

TCM Pharmacology started in China about 150 years ago, and has been used since then to study the pharmacological actions of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and new drug development to use TCM as resources. At least 11,146 plant species representing 2,309 genera and 383 families, 1,581 species of animals, and 80 minerals are used in TCM. In the past several decades, some well known new drugs were developed from these TCM species, namely ephedrine, artemisinin, huperzine A, etc. In the present lecture, three models for pharmacological research of TCM are summarized: (i) chemistry-focused research; (ii) target-directed research; and (iii) systems biology-based research. These approaches correspond to recent developments in pharmacology, particularly new tools available to the field. TCM pharmacology has played, and will continue to play, an indispensable role in elucidating the chemical basis, biological targets, mechanisms of action of TCM medicines, and developing the scientific basis for the theory of TCM.