[Research progress of microparticles as drug delivery system for traditional Chinese medicine].

Microparticle preparation, a new drug delivery system based on microencapsulation technique, includes micro-spheres and microcapsules. Recently, this new drug delivery system has been applied in developing new dosage forms for the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). TCM microparticles can perform several sound characteristics and functions which are currently unavailable in TCM preparations, such as controlled release, effect of targeting, increasing bioavailability or low toxicity. This makes it possible that TCM may exert much higher therapeutic efficacy and show lower side-effects as well. Although the studies on TCM microparticles are still in the beginning stage, microparticle preparation of TCM has given rise to comprehensive attention and will have a wonderful prospect. The progress in this field is reviewed in this article.