Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy and WHO Collaborating Center for Traditional Medicine, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
Molecules. 2013 May 3;18(5):5125-41. doi: 10.3390/molecules18055125.
Herb-herb combinations have been used in Chinese medicine practice for thousands of years, yet scientific evidence of their therapeutic benefits is lacking. With increasing interest in shifting from the one-drug-one-target paradigm to combination therapy or polypharmacy to achieve therapeutic benefits for a number of diseases, there is momentum to explore new knowledge by tapping the past empirical experiences of herb-herb combinations. This review presents an overview of the traditional concept and practice of herb-herb combination in Chinese medicine, and highlights the available scientific and clinical evidence to support the combined use of herbs. It is hoped that such information would provide a lead for developing new approaches for future therapeutic advancement and pharmaceutical product development. Very likely modern technologies combined with innovative research for the quality control of herbal products, identification of active components and understanding of the molecular mechanism, followed by well-designed animal and clinical studies would pave the way in advancing the wealth of empirical knowledge from herb-herb combination to new therapeutic modalities.
中草药组合在中医药实践中已经使用了数千年，但缺乏其治疗益处的科学证据。随着人们越来越关注从单一药物单一靶点的治疗模式转变为联合治疗或多药治疗，以实现多种疾病的治疗益处，因此有必要通过挖掘中草药组合的过去经验来探索新知识。 本综述介绍了中医药中中草药组合的传统概念和实践，并强调了现有科学和临床证据支持草药联合使用。 希望这些信息能为未来的治疗进展和药物产品开发提供新方法的开发提供线索。 很可能现代技术与草药产品质量控制、活性成分鉴定和分子机制理解的创新研究相结合，然后进行精心设计的动物和临床研究，将中草药组合的丰富经验转化为新的治疗模式。
