Recent advances in pharmacokinetics approach for herbal medicine

Abstract

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), an indispensable part of herbal medicine, has been used for treating many diseases and/or symptoms for thousands of years. As we know, the main active components of TCM can account for its therapeutic effects. However, rational use of TCM faces a series of obstacles due to a large diversity of species and inaccurate knowledge of the active components. In recent years, more and more applications of new technologies or methodologies for investigating the active components of TCM have provided us with much additional information on active substances. Pharmacokinetics is an effective tool which can be used to investigate the many components of TCM. A pharmacokinetics approach reveals the dynamic processes of active components in vivo, including their absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion which offer guidance for clinical rational uses of TCM. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to review the current status of TCM, application of pharmacokinetics in investigating TCM, and emerging trends.