Covid-19 pandemic has caused hundreds of thousands deaths and millions of infections and continued spreading violently. Although researchers are racing to find or develop effective drugs or vaccines, no drugs from modern medical system have been proven effective and the high mutant rates of the virus may lead it resistant to whatever drugs or vaccines developed following modern drug development procedure. Current evidence has demonstrated impressive healing effects of several Chinese medicines (CMs) for Covid-19, which urges us to reflect on the role of CM in the era of modern medicine. Undoubtedly, CM could be promising resources for developing drug candidates for the treatment of Covid-19 in a way similar to the development of artemisinin. But the theory that builds CM, like the emphasis of driving away exogenous pathogen (virus, etc.) by restoring self-healing capacity rather than killing the pathogen directly from the inside and the 'black-box' mode of diagnosing and treating patients, is as important, yet often ignored, an treasure as CM herbs and should be incorporated into modern medicine for future advancement and innovation of medical science.
Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use* ; COVID-19/therapy* ; Disease Outbreaks ; Drug Development/standards* ; Drug Resistance, Viral/genetics* ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/trends* ; Mutation Rate ; Pandemics ; Phytotherapy/methods* ; SARS-CoV-2/physiology*

Adult ; Body Temperature/drug effects* ; COVID-19/pathology* ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Ephedra sinica/chemistry* ; Female ; Fever/pathology* ; Glycyrrhiza/chemistry* ; Humans ; Indoles/administration & dosage* ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/methods* ; Middle Aged ; Phytotherapy/methods* ; Pneumonia, Viral/pathology* ; Radiography, Thoracic ; SARS-CoV-2/drug effects*

Brucea javanica, a Chinese herbal medicine, combined with conventional anticancer modalities, has been widely used for treatment of various cancers. Based on researches over the last decades, authors briefly summarized its active constituents, molecular mechanisms and clinical application for cancer treatment.
Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; therapeutic use ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Biomedical Research ; methods ; trends ; Brucea ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Phytotherapy

Objective: To explore the effects of Kudzu Root plus Cinnamon Granules (KR+C) on prostatic hyperplasia (PH) in mice. METHODS: Sixty 4-week-old Kunming male mice were randomly divided into six groups: blank control, PH model, high-, medium- and low-dose KR+C, and finasteride control. All the mice except those in the blank control group were subcutaneously injected with testosterone propionate (5 mg / ［kg·d］) at 7 days after surgical castration. The animals of different groups were treated intragastrically with different doses of KR+C, finasteride, and normal saline respectively for 3 weeks and then sacrificed for weighing of the prostate, calculation of the prostatic index, observation of the morphological changes in the prostate after HE staining, determination of the expressions of FGF2, Ki67 and TGF-β1 by immunohistochemistry, detection of 5α-reductase activity by ELISA, and measurement of the apoptosis index of the prostatic cells by TUNEL. RESULTS: Compared with the model controls, the mice of the other groups showed significantly reduced prostatic volume (P <0.05), prostatic index (P <0.05), expressions of FGF2, Ki67 and TGF-β1, and activity of 5 α-reductase (P <0.05), but remarkably increased apoptosis index of the prostatic cells (P <0.05). However, no statistically significant differences were observed in the above parameters between the finasteride control and the three KR+C groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS KR+C can reduce the prostatic volume of PH mice by decreasing the activity of 5α- reductase, inhibiting the expressions of FGF2, Ki67 and TGF-β1, and promoting the apoptosis of prostatic cells.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Cholestenone 5 alpha-Reductase ; metabolism ; Cinnamomum zeylanicum ; chemistry ; Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 ; metabolism ; Finasteride ; therapeutic use ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Ki-67 Antigen ; metabolism ; Male ; Mice ; Organ Size ; Phytotherapy ; methods ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Prostate ; pathology ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; pathology ; Pueraria ; chemistry ; Random Allocation ; Testosterone Propionate ; administration & dosage ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ; metabolism ; Urological Agents ; therapeutic use

PURPOSETo evaluate the effect of a hydroethanolic extract of Moltkia coerulea ointment (MCO) on the healing of excision wound in a rat model.

METHODSCircular surgical full thickness excision wound, with 314 mm² size, was induced in the anterior-dorsal side of each rat. Three different doses of MCO (1%, 3% and 6%) were administrated. On Day 3, 7, 14 and 21, the tissue was sampled and immune cells, fibroblasts and fibrocytes distribution per one mm² of wound area, collagen density and re-epithelialization were analyzed. Moreover, the total flavnoid, phenols and anti-oxidant potential of the MCO were evaluated. Ultimately, the percentage of wound contraction in different groups was compared with each other.

RESULTSHydroethanolic extract of MCO significantly (p < 0.05) increased wound contraction percentage. The animals in medium and high dose MCO-treated groups exhibited remarkably (p<0.05) higher fibroblast and fibrocyte distribution and significantly (p < 0.05) lower immune cells infiltration. On Day 7 after injury, MCO up-regulated neovascularization in a dose-dependent way.

CONCLUSIONOur data showed that MCO shortened the inflammation phase by provoking the fibroblast proliferation. Moreover, MCO promoted the healing process by up-regulating the angiogenesis and provoking the structural cells proliferation as well as increasing the collagen synthesis, cross-linking, and deposition.

Administration, Topical ; Animals ; Biopsy, Needle ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Disease Models, Animal ; Immunohistochemistry ; Iran ; Male ; Phytotherapy ; methods ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Skin ; drug effects ; injuries ; Treatment Outcome ; Wound Healing ; drug effects ; Wounds and Injuries ; drug therapy

The efficacy material base of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) is those constituents absorbed in blood and show the efficacy of TCMs after oral administration of a TCM formula. In TCM, formula consisted of more than one herbal drug is the clinical medication form which corresponding to TCM syndrome. The efficacy material base of TCMs had to be found in the condition of compatibility and efficacy of TCM formula. Therefore we take the biological characters of TCM syndrome as a research starting point, taking formula as object, through the integration of serum pharmacochemistry of TCM methods and metabolomics technologies, establish a system research methodology of the efficacy material basis in vivo--Chinmedomics. The use of metabolomics technology is used to fully understand nature biology on syndromes or disease, identify biomarkers for disease to bridging disease animal model, establishing the biological evaluation system of traditional Chinese medicine. On the basis of the validity of the premise, the use of serum pharmacochemistry of TCM to analysis in vivo directly substance after oral prescription and dynamic law, combined with changes law of the endogenous disease biomarkers (pharmacodynamic markers of TCM), Though establishing two variable correlation analysis method between Chinese chemical compositions in serum exogenous and endogenous biomarkers, to extract TCM compositions highly correlated with the endogenous marker as potential basis for traditional Chinese medicines, and to biological validation to determine the efficacy material basis of TCM.
Animals ; Biomarkers ; blood ; Drug Evaluation ; methods ; standards ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacokinetics ; Humans ; Metabolomics ; Phytotherapy

OBJECTIVETo observe the efficacy and safety of Danlong Oral Liquid (DOL) combined Western medicine (WM) in treating mild-to-moderate bronchial asthma patients (heat wheezing syndrome) at acute onset.

METHODSTotally 480 mild-to-moderate bronchial asthma patients (heat wheezing syndrome) at acute onset were randomly assigned to two groups in the ratio 3:1, the treatment group (360 cases) and the control group (120 cases). All patients received basic WM treatment. Patients in the treatment group took DOL, 10 mL each time, 3 times per day for 7 days in total, while those in the control group took Kechuanning Oral Liquid (KOL) , 10 mL each time, 3 times per day for 7 days in total. Efficacy for asthma symptoms, lung functions and scores of TCM syndrome and/or main symptoms were evaluated.

RESULTSThe percentage of clinical control and significant effectiveness of asthma symptoms in the treatment group was significantly higher than that of the control group (77.36% vs 56.07%, P < 0.01). The percentage of clinical control and significant effectiveness of lung functions in the treatment group was significantly higher than that of the control group (74.28% vs 50.00%, P < 0.01). The anterior-posterior difference in scores of TCM syndrome was significantly superior in the treatment group than in the control group (-11.26 ± 4.70 vs -9.21 ± 5.09, P < 0.01). The anterior-posterior difference in scores of main symptoms was significantly better in the treatment group than in the control group (-6.58 ± 3.08 vs -5.16 ± 3.45, P < 0.01). The incidence of adverse reactions was significantly lower in the treatment group than in the control group [1.73% (6/346 cases) vs 10.17% (12/118 cases) , P < 0.05].

CONCLUSIONDOL combined WM was superior to KOL in treating mild-to-moderate bronchial asthma patients (heat wheezing syndrome) at acute onset.

Anti-Asthmatic Agents ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Asthma ; drug therapy ; Biomedical Research ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Hot Temperature ; Humans ; Lung ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Phytotherapy ; Respiratory Sounds ; Syndrome

BACKGROUNDThroughout the past three decades, increased scientific attention has been given to examining saffron's (Crocus sativus L.) use as a potential therapeutic or preventive agent for a number of health conditions, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and depression.

OBJECTIVEThe purpose of this systematic review is to examine and categorize the current state of scientific evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) regarding the efficacy of saffron on psychological/behavioral outcomes.

SEARCH STRATEGYElectronic and non-electronic systematic searches were conducted to identify all relevant human clinical research on saffron. The search strategy was extensive and was designed according to the "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)." Reference lists of articles that met the inclusion criteria were searched. Only English language studies were reviewed.

INCLUSION CRITERIASaffron trials in combination with other substances and saffron safety studies were considered, in accordance with the PRISMA statement. Included studies must have a control group. Included studies must measure a physiological and/or a behavioral outcome.

DATA EXTRACTION AND ANALYSISThe methodological quality of all included studies was independently evaluated by two reviewers using the Jadad score. Mean scores and P-values of measures were compared both inter- and intra-study for each parameter (i.e., depression).

RESULTSTwelve studies met our inclusion criteria. These studies examined the effects of saffron on psychological/behavioral outcomes of: major depressive disorder (n=6), premenstrual syndrome (n = 1), sexual dysfunction and infertility (n=4), and weight loss/snacking behaviors (n=1). The data from these studies support the efficacy of saffron as compared to placebo in improving the following conditions: depressive symptoms (compared to anti-depressants and placebo), premenstrual symptoms, and sexual dysfunction. In addition, saffron use was also effective in reducing excessive snacking behavior.

CONCLUSIONFindings from initial clinical trials suggest that saffron may improve the symptoms and the effects of depression, premenstrual syndrome, sexual dysfunction and infertility, and excessive snacking behaviors. Larger multi-site clinical trials are needed to extend these preliminary findings.

Behavior ; drug effects ; Crocus ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; drug therapy ; psychology ; Humans ; Phytotherapy ; methods ; Plant Preparations ; therapeutic use ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic

Administration, Topical ; Cinnamomum zeylanicum ; Episiotomy ; methods ; Female ; Gels ; administration & dosage ; Humans ; Phytotherapy ; methods ; Plant Preparations ; administration & dosage ; Pregnancy

Plants of the genus Taraxacum, commonly known as dandelions, are used to treat breast cancer in traditional folk medicine. However, their use has mainly been based on empirical findings without sufficient scientific evidence. Therefore, we hypothesized that dandelions would behave as a Selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) and be effective as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in the postmenopausal women. In the present study, in vitro assay systems, including cell proliferation assay, reporter gene assay, and RT-PCR to evaluate the mRNA expression of estrogen-related genes (pS2 and progesterone receptor, PR), were performed in human breast cancer cells. Dandelion ethanol extract (DEE) significantly increased cell proliferation and estrogen response element (ERE)-driven luciferase activity. DEE significantly induced the expression of estrogen related genes such as pS2 and PR, which was inhibited by tamoxifen at 1 μmol·L(-1). These results indicated that DEE could induce estrogenic activities mediated by a classical estrogen receptor pathway. In addition, immature rat uterotrophic assay was carried out to identify estrogenic activity of DEE in vivo. The lowest concentration of DEE slightly increased the uterine wet weight, but there was no significant effect with the highest concentration of DEE. The results demonstrate the potential estrogenic activities of DEE, providing scientific evidence supporting their use in traditional medicine.
Animals ; Breast Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Estrogen Replacement Therapy ; methods ; Female ; Gene Expression ; drug effects ; Humans ; MCF-7 Cells ; Phytoestrogens ; metabolism ; Phytotherapy ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Plant Leaves ; Rats ; Receptors, Estrogen ; metabolism ; Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators ; pharmacology ; Taraxacum ; Uterus ; drug effects