Nanotechnologies for traditional Chinese medicine research: quality control and therapeutic applications

Abstract

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), as a treasure system to treat diseases with long historical clinical practice and reliable therapeutic efficacy, attracts widespread concerns all over the world. Due to the complex compositions, susceptible quality, and synergistic pharmacology, it is highly urgent to develop strategies to detect active components, identify authenticity, discriminate toxins, and evaluate therapy. The rapid development of nanotechnology has provided promising avenues for TCM research. In this review, we categorize recent advancement of nanotechnologies-based TCM research, particularly including quality control and therapeutic applications; on the basis of which, we further illustrate the opportunities and the challenges, as well as the future trends in the field of nanotechnologies-based TCM research.