Liu Shihui, Matsuo Toshihiko, Matsuo Chie, Abe Takumi, Chen Jinghua, Sun Chi, Zhao Qing
Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan.
Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai General Hospital (Shanghai First People's Hospital), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, National Clinical Research Center for Eye Diseases, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Ocular Fundus Diseases, Shanghai Engineering Center for Visual Science and Photomedicine, Shanghai Engineering Center for Precise Diagnosis and Treatment of Eye Diseases, Shanghai, China.
Front Med (Lausanne). 2024 Dec 6;11:1468230. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1468230. eCollection 2024.
Medicinal plants, also known as herbs, have been discovered and utilized in traditional medical practice since prehistoric times. Medicinal plants have been proven rich in thousands of natural products that hold great potential for the development of new drugs. Previously, we reviewed the types of Chinese traditional medicines that a Tang Dynasty monk Jianzhen (Japanese: Ganjin) brought to Japan from China in 742. This article aims to review the origin of Kampo (Japanese traditional medicine), and to present the overview of neurodegenerative diseases and retinitis pigmentosa as well as medicinal plants in some depth. Through the study of medical history of the origin of Kampo, we found that herbs medicines contain many neuroprotective ingredients. It provides us a new perspective on extracting neuroprotective components from herbs medicines to treat neurodegenerative diseases. Retinitis pigmentosa (one of the ophthalmic neurodegenerative diseases) is an incurable blinding disease and has become a popular research direction in global ophthalmology. To date, treatments for retinitis pigmentosa are very limited worldwide. Therefore, we intend to integrate the knowledge and skills from different disciplines, such as medical science, pharmaceutical science and plant science, to take a new therapeutic approach to treat neurodegenerative diseases. In the future, we will use specific active ingredients extracted from medicinal plants to treat retinitis pigmentosa. By exploring the potent bioactive ingredients present in medicinal plants, a valuable opportunity will be offered to uncover novel approaches for the development of drugs which target for retinitis pigmentosa.
药用植物，也被称为草药，自史前时代起就在传统医学实践中被发现和利用。药用植物已被证明富含数千种天然产物，这些天然产物在新药开发方面具有巨大潜力。此前，我们回顾了唐朝和尚鉴真（日语：鉴真）于742年从中国带到日本的中药种类。本文旨在回顾汉方（日本传统医学）的起源，并深入介绍神经退行性疾病和色素性视网膜炎以及药用植物的概况。通过对汉方起源的医学史研究，我们发现草药含有许多神经保护成分。这为我们从草药中提取神经保护成分以治疗神经退行性疾病提供了一个新的视角。色素性视网膜炎（眼科神经退行性疾病之一）是一种无法治愈的致盲疾病，已成为全球眼科学中一个热门的研究方向。迄今为止，全球范围内针对色素性视网膜炎的治疗方法非常有限。因此，我们打算整合医学、药学和植物科学等不同学科的知识和技能，采取一种新的治疗方法来治疗神经退行性疾病。未来，我们将使用从药用植物中提取的特定活性成分来治疗色素性视网膜炎。通过探索药用植物中存在的强效生物活性成分，将为发现针对色素性视网膜炎的新药开发新方法提供一个宝贵的机会。
