Probiotics and Traditional Chinese Medicine
The advancement of modern scientific theory and technology has continuously promoted the development and maturity of TCM theory, and now people are beginning to have a deeper understanding of the active ingredients and mechanisms. The story of the intestinal microbiome has opened a new door for analyzing the mechanism of TCM and understanding TCM theory, creating a new combination point for TCM and modern medicine, and becoming a key breakthrough in TCM.
The basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine is highly similar to many basic viewpoints of microecology, such as the system theory of microecology and the theory of viscera in traditional Chinese medicine, the imbalance of microecology and the ups and downs of evil and good in traditional Chinese medicine, etc. Therefore, in recent years, many studies have explored the relationship between traditional Chinese medicine and intestinal microecology. Data from the core collections of China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Web of Science (WOS) show that in the past five years, the number of studies on traditional Chinese medicine and intestinal microecology has grown rapidly. In 2022, it will hit a new high. CNKI shows that 414 Chinese articles have been published, and the WOS core collection shows that 337 English articles have been published.
Using CiteSpace software to analyze the keywords of research published in 2022, it was found that the research included in the WOS core collection showed that research on traditional Chinese medicine and microbiome mainly focused on ulcerative colitis, inflammation, obesity, growth performance, stress or oxidative stress Ji et al.; studies included in CNKI show that research on traditional Chinese medicine and microbiome mainly focuses on ulcerative colitis, immunity, non-alcoholic fatty liver, brain-gut axis, colorectal cancer, etc.
A series of published studies have shown that many Chinese herbal medicines and their compounds in TCM treatments interact with the gut microbiome (Table 1). On the one hand, the intestinal microbiome will metabolize traditional Chinese medicines (such as hydrolysis, oxidation, reduction, deacylation, and dealkylation reactions), which will affect the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicines and even produce metabolites with toxic and side effects. Effective traditional Chinese medicine is metabolized into active ingredients with medicinal effects. For example, geniposide cannot be decomposed in the liver, but it is hydrolyzed into genipin under the catalysis of intestinal microorganisms to exert its medicinal effect. Drugs, on the other hand, can treat diseases by modulating the gut microbiome.
Undoubtedly, the rise of microbiome research has provided a new direction for analyzing the "black box" mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine. In the future, with the deepening of research on the interaction between traditional Chinese medicine and microbiome, it is expected to reveal more mechanisms of action of traditional Chinese medicine, thereby promoting the development of traditional Chinese medicine. develop.
Traditional Chinese Medicine Fermentation
Microbiome research has not only helped to analyze the mechanism of action of traditional Chinese medicine but also promoted the rise of fermented traditional Chinese medicine closely related to microorganisms.
Fermentation of traditional Chinese medicine has existed as early as ancient times, and it is a processing process. For example, the fermentation of traditional Chinese medicines such as Liushenqu and Banxiaqu has a history of thousands of years. "Compendium of Materia Medica" records: "Panxia is ground into powder, ginger juice, and alum soup are used to make cakes, and mulberry leaves are wrapped in baskets. Clothes, dried in the sun, its nature and flavor are bitter, flat, can reduce phlegm and relieve cough, eliminate indigestion, and treat diarrhea.” The unfermented Spinelli is pungent and poisonous in nature.
Modern traditional Chinese medicine fermentation is a new technology based on the inheritance of ancient Chinese medicine fermentation and the integration of modern scientific research results. Extract and purify Chinese herbal medicines with medicinal and edible homology, and then carry out anaerobic fermentation with the preferred probiotic flora as strains. Under certain environmental conditions (such as temperature, humidity, air, moisture, etc.), through microbial transformation, the macromolecular substances of traditional Chinese medicine are transformed into small molecular components that can be directly absorbed by the human intestine, so that the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine can be quickly exerted.
Most of the medicines are plant medicinal materials, and most of their effective substances are surrounded by cell walls. The microbial fermentation technology directly extracts the effective substances, skipping the barrier of the cell wall. At the same time, through the fermentation of probiotics and the degradation of microorganisms, the macromolecular effective active substances that cannot be directly absorbed and utilized by the human body are degraded into small molecules, and the active ingredients are improved. Absorption gives full play to the efficacy. Not only that, but the fermentation of traditional Chinese medicine can also break the so-called "good medicine tastes bitter". The Chinese herbal medicine fermentation liquid purified by fermentation tastes better and is more acceptable to people.
In addition, beneficial bacteria are added to traditional Chinese medicine during the fermentation process, which may produce a variety of secondary metabolites that are beneficial to health. Through the enzymatic hydrolysis during the fermentation process, Chinese herbal medicine and probiotics may benefit from each other to produce a more powerful therapeutic effect.