Nerve-Gut Research Laboratory, Discipline of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Adelaide, and Department of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Hanson Institute, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia.
Curr Opin Pharmacol. 2011 Dec;11(6):604-11. doi: 10.1016/j.coph.2011.09.007. Epub 2011 Oct 11.
Altered motility, discomfort and pain are common debilitating symptoms of patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders. However, these conditions represent a significant and unmet need for mainstream medical treatment, particularly after high profile therapeutic drug withdrawals due to safety concerns. As such an increasing number of sufferers are turning to alternative medicines in an effort to seek relief from their symptoms. Alternative medicines have traditionally been looked at by mainstream medicine with cynicism. However, new evidence demonstrates that the active components in natural products have actions on specific ion channels and receptors, many of which are located in sensory systems distributed throughout the body. These findings may not only explain the symptomatic benefit of these alternative medicines but also provide novel therapeutic targets for mainstream drug development. As such natural products represent a wealth of untapped potential which is waiting to be unlocked.
改变运动功能、不适和疼痛是功能性胃肠疾病患者常见的使人虚弱的症状。然而，这些情况代表了对主流医学治疗的重大且未满足的需求，尤其是在由于安全性问题而撤回高知名度的治疗药物之后。因此，越来越多的患者转向替代药物，以努力缓解其症状。替代药物传统上被主流医学持怀疑态度看待。然而，新的证据表明，天然产物中的活性成分对特定的离子通道和受体具有作用，其中许多受体位于分布在全身的感觉系统中。这些发现不仅可以解释这些替代药物的症状缓解作用，而且还为主流药物开发提供了新的治疗靶点。因此，天然产物代表了大量有待开发的潜力。
