School of Pharmacy, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China.
School of Pharmacy, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China; Key Laboratory of Characteristic Chinese Medicine Resources in Southwest China, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China.
Pharmacol Res. 2019 Apr;142:176-191. doi: 10.1016/j.phrs.2019.02.024. Epub 2019 Feb 25.
As an important component of complementary and alternative medicines, traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) are gaining more and more attentions around the world because of the powerful therapeutic effects and less side effects. However, there are still some doubts about TCM because of the questionable TCM theories and unclear biological active compounds. In recent years, gut microbiota has emerged as an important frontier to understand the development and progress of diseases. Together with this trend, an increasing number of studies have indicated that drug molecules can interact with gut microbiota after oral administration. In this context, more and more studies pertaining to TCM have paid attention to gut microbiota and have yield rich information for understanding TCM. After oral administration, TCM can interact with gut microbiota: (1) TCM can modulate the composition of gut microbiota; (2) TCM can modulate the metabolism of gut microbiota; (3) gut microbiota can transform TCM compounds. During the interactions, two types of metabolites can be produced: gut microbiota metabolites (of food and host origin) and gut microbiota transformed TCM compounds. In this review, we summarized the interactions between TCM and gut microbiota, and the pharmacological effects and features of metabolites produced during interactions between TCM and gut microbiota. Then, focusing on gut microbiota and metabolites, we summarized the aspects in which gut microbiota has facilitated our understanding of TCM. At the end of this review, the outlooks for further research of TCM and gut microbiota were also discussed.
作为补充和替代医学的重要组成部分，由于其强大的治疗效果和较少的副作用，中药（TCM）在世界范围内越来越受到关注。然而，由于中医理论的可疑性和生物活性化合物的不明确性，人们对中医仍然存在一些怀疑。近年来，肠道微生物群已成为了解疾病发展和进展的一个重要前沿领域。随着这一趋势，越来越多的研究表明，药物分子在口服后可以与肠道微生物群相互作用。在这种情况下，越来越多的与 TCM 相关的研究开始关注肠道微生物群，并为了解 TCM 提供了丰富的信息。口服 TCM 后可以与肠道微生物群相互作用：（1）TCM 可以调节肠道微生物群的组成；（2）TCM 可以调节肠道微生物群的代谢；（3）肠道微生物群可以转化 TCM 化合物。在相互作用过程中，会产生两种类型的代谢物：肠道微生物群代谢物（食物和宿主来源）和肠道微生物群转化的 TCM 化合物。在这篇综述中，我们总结了 TCM 与肠道微生物群之间的相互作用，以及 TCM 与肠道微生物群相互作用过程中产生的代谢物的药理学作用和特征。然后，我们重点关注肠道微生物群和代谢物，总结了肠道微生物群有助于我们理解 TCM 的方面。在这篇综述的最后，还讨论了进一步研究 TCM 和肠道微生物群的展望。
