Discussion on property of a medicine and efficacy both are the core theories of Chinese pharmacy

A B S T R A C T

In order to discuss the relationship of the property and efficacy, according to relevant literature, the study found that it did not make a clear summary of the relationship between the property and efficacy of Chinese Medicine. And currently, the traditional Chinese Medicine theory is limited to the understanding of the traditional Chinese Medicine. It is difficult to break through the limitations. This discussion found that the property of a medicine and efficacy have a cause-effect relation. Furthermore, the efficacy of Chinese Medicine is one of the core theories.

Keywords

Traditional Chinese pharmacolog, property of a medicine, efficacy, the kernel theory

I N T R O D U C T I O N

The modern research' understanding of Chinese medicine for the potency and efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine is confined to its traditional theory. It cannot break its shackles and form a new understanding. The relationship between the medicinal properties and the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine has an indispensable role in clinical application. Through the query of relevant data, this paper discusses the specific causality of the medicinal properties and efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine, and the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine is also one of the core theories of traditional Chinese medicine.

I Awareness and Inadequacy of Current Relationships between Medicinal Properties and Efficacy

For a long time, scientists in China engaged in traditional Chinese medicine research mainly focused on the study of the chemical composition and pharmacological effects of traditional Chinese medicine. Despite the use of new methods and new research ideas, there still has no substantive breakthrough due to the limitations of traditional thinking. Especially, there are still many deficiencies in the study of the properties and efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine, and the study of the medicinal properties and efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine is still separate, and there is no clear summary of the relationship between the properties and efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine. More importantly, the degree of emphasis on the efficacy of Chinese medicine is far less important than the degree of emphasis on medicinal properties, and there is insufficient understanding of the efficacy of Chinese medicine.

What's more, the understanding of medicinal properties is incomplete and there is no uniform assessment method. On the one hand, with the development of the times, the previous medicinal properties have been constantly updated; on the other hand, the doctors have different opinions on the medicinal properties of Chinese medicine, so that the record of medicinal properties at different ages in different books is not uniform. For example, ginseng is described in the "Ben Jing" as "sweet, slightly cold." In the "Chinese Pharmacopoeia", it is recorded as "Gan, Bitter, and Flat." It is recorded in the "National Herbal Collection" as "Gan, Slightly bitter, slightly warm.".

Another is the fact that awareness of efficacy is not long. It is not very complete in terms of systems. Some of the effects are missing. For example, in the "Compendium of Materia Medica," records of Rehmannia glutinosa were "filling bone marrow, growing long muscles, and producing blood, making up for lack of internal injuries, unobstructing blood veins, clearing eyes and ears and blackening hair.” In the follow-up book, "Materia Medica from the new," it was described as "nourishing kidney water, sealing the bone marrow, benefiting blood veins, replenishing true eyesight and hearing, making hair black. And it can tonifylung Yin, cure labor injury, wind chilling, yin deficiency fever, phlegmcough, shortness of breath, stomach emptiness, pneumothorax syndrome, purpura syndrome, postpartum pain, postpartum umbilical urgency, feelings Yin deficiency and no sweat to close. All kinds of rights, all liver and kidney yin defiency, virtual loss of all diseases, are the main drug for Zhuangshui." It can be seen that the description of the efficacy of Chinese medicine is more chaotic, which still need digging out.

In addition, the description of the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine is not proper, modern people can easily confuse the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine with clinical application, indications, and pharmacological effects. For example, the efficacy of Chuanxiong is promoting blood circulation and eliminating phlegm, but many people consider its clinical application like blood treatment, phlegm stagnation, chest pain and tingling as efficacy; in the "Shen Nong's Herbal Classic", schisandra Is recorded as "mainly benefiting qi, coughing against upper air, labor injury to win thin, making up insufficiency, strengthening yin and benefiting men’s sperm. "Among them,” benefiting qi," "strengthening yin,"and "remedying deficiency" is the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine; "main cough over the gas"and"work injuries and win thin" are the main indication of traditional Chinese medicine. Until after the Jin and Yuan, the efficacy began to be categorized from its main indication [1]. Chinese Material Medical records that honeysuckle has the efficacy of "heat-clearing and detoxicating", but the honeysuckle supplemented later has the antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, antidotal choplogic, hepatoprotective, lipid-lowering, and hemostatic effects.

It can be seen from the above that medicinal properties are summarized on the basis of efficacy. However, there are deficiencies in the description of medicinal properties and efficacy still needs to be studied due to improper description, which makes the potency and efficacy of Chinese medicine not establish a good relationship.

II Cognition of efficacy theory and drug theory

The efficacy of Chinese medicine is one of the core theories of Chinese pharmacy, and it is also the most active part of development. From the ancients’ understanding of traditional Chinese medicine’s efficacy and its historical development, the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine is guided by the theory of traditional Chinese medicine. It regards dialectics as Its basic principle and combines with clinical applications to gradually summarize the decentralized treatment effects. The object of efficacy can be roughly divided into three categories: "symptom", "proof" and "disease”. The "symptomatic treatment of traditional Chinese medicine" refers to that the Chinese medicinecan eliminate or alleviate the pain symptoms or clinical signs; the "treatment against syndromes" refers to that the traditional Chinese medicine can regulate the overall functional status of the body; the “treatment of disease” in Chinese medicine refers to the regulation of a certain disease by using a certain Chinese medicine.

The research and development of the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine is often later than the development of compatibility of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions [2]. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the prescription developed rapidly, and the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine was still based on the existing basis. The prescription was first seen in Cheng Wuji's "The Theory of Typhus" in Jin Dynasty, which was the pioneer theory to solve prescriptions and made a clear understanding of their efficacy.

The efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine has a considerable relationship with its place of origin, variety, storage, processing, and compatibility Only by grasping these factors that affect efficacy well can we maximize the effectiveness of Chinese medicine.

The theory of Chinese medicinal properties refers to a theoretical system, under the guidance of traditional Chinese medicine theory and long-term practice of traditional Chinese medicine, summarized by the properties and mechanisms of medicines and their application through the effects of medicines obtained from practice based on the principles of yin and yang, organs, and meridians [3]. The basic content of medicinal properties includes four gasses, five flavors, channel tropism, rising and falling, and toxicity. Four gases refer to cold, heat, warm and cool drugs. Warmth and heat, coldness and cool ness have the difference, of degree and they are relative. Coldness and coolness belong to yin while, warmth and heat belong to yang so four gases again can reflect the body's yin and yang, rise and fall o; five flavors refers to drugs with acid, salty, sweet, bitter and pungent taste; channel tropism refers to the attribution of in the organs; rising and falling refers to the different tendency of drugs in human body which is the movement of human qi in the process of achieving its drug efficacy; besides, whether there is toxicity or not is also inducted d in the efficacy of long-term use of drugs.

III Drug and efficacy are mutually causal

Herbality is the effect of drugs after acting on the body, yet efficacy is the therapeutic effect of drugs on the body [4]. Both have obvious causes. After the drug has been used for therapeutic purposes, the drug properties can be inferred from its efficacy.

The determination of drug property is based on the reaction of medicine and the cold and heat of the disease. The drug response that has a favorable effect on the disease is the efficacy. For example, the drug that can reduce or eliminate the cold is the drug that is warm or hot. If the patient presents with cold extremities, pale complexion, cold abdominal pain, and slight appetite, it belongs to the negative syndrome. It is advisable to use aconite, cinnamon, ginger and other drugs for treatment. It can be explained that the medicinal properties of the above drugs are mild, or heat, that is, the medicinal properties is summarized on the basis of efficacy. “The cold is hot, and the hot is cold" in the "Su Wen. Supreme to the Truth," indicates that the medication is based on the symptoms and then use the corresponding drugs for treatment.

Traditional Chinese medicine theory holds that the taste of Chinese medicine is "abdominal knowledge". After the drug comes into the body, the property of medicine can be judged from the effect produced in the body, that is, summarize the property of drug based on the specific experience of drug use. For example, the cold, heat, warm or cool of medicine can be judged by the different reactions or different curative effects produced after the action of drugs on the human body. Cold and cool drugs have the functions of clearing heat and purging fire, cooling blood and detoxifying, and clearing away heat and phlegm to treat fever. Warming medicine has the advantages of warming and dispersing cold, replenishing the fire to help the yang, warming the meridians, and treating the cold disease [5]. The “Su Qian Tsang Qi Theory” pointed out that “Sweetness, acidity, sweetness, bitterness, and saltiness are important.” This is a summary of the effects of the five kinds of sexual effects produced in the human body. The efficacy and medicinal properties of 8980 Chinese herbal medicines recorded in "Chinese Herbal Medicine" were made into data sets, indicating that the efficacy of Chinese medicine can be used to judge the five-flavor medicinal properties [6]. Another example is that the "Internal Classic" states that the disease caused by the "12 movements" is related to the body's organs and meridians. Therefore, the effects of various drugs can be used to deduce the visceraand channel tropism the drugs act on [7]. For instance, ephedra can promote lung andasthma, so it belongs to the lung meridian; Pinellia can resist vomiting so it belongs to stomach meridian.

Dred tangerine can –regulate qi-flowing strengthen spleen and eliminate dampness and phlegm, which can be seen that the property ofdried tangerine is warm and returning to spleen lung; Yin Chen can clear dampness and heat, which explains that the property of medicine is bitter and slightly cold; .Cinnamon can make up the fire to help Yang, disperse cold ness and alleviate pain, because it is spicy, sweet and hot, and enters the spleen and kidney meridian Some scholars have used data to infer the medicinal effects of the drugs through their cold nature, bitter taste, and medicinal properties of the liver. Under the basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine, it can be inferred that the liver is responsible for catharsis and possession of blood. In general, cold medicines can treat fever, while drugs with bitterness can "exhale," "dry," and "stabilize," and can deduct from its causes that the drug is bitter and cold. The medicine for liver meridian has the functions of clearing away heat and reducing fire, drying dampness, cooling blood and detoxifying. For example, Rhizoma Coptidis is bitter and cold, returning to the heart, spleen, liver and other meridians, which has the effect of clearing heat and dampness, reducing fire and detoxifying. Clinically, it is mainly used to treat hot and humid fullness, vomiting, diarrhea, blood heat and other symptoms.

Efficacy is a concrete manifestation of the role of drugs, while drug property is the abstract internality of drug’s action. The efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of diseases is visible, and the medicinal properties are precisely defined according to the effects embodied by the drugs. Therefore, the efficacy and medicinal properties of Chinese medicines are mutually causal.

IV Application and Influence of Efficacy and Drug Dependence Relationship

The medicinal properties of traditional Chinese medicine are based on efficacy and have a causal relationship. The more we learn about the efficacy of Chinese medicine, the resulting medicinal conclusions will not be confined to the chemical composition alone but will combine the medicinal properties and efficacy in a unified manner to enable it to develop at multiple levels so that it can be better treated in clinical practice.

All medical doctors in ancient times emphasized the overall idea of “combination of sexual effects”, and further research on the etiology of medicinal properties and efficacy was helpful to explain the medicinal properties of traditional Chinese medicine at the overall level, which is of great significance to the development of traditional Chinese medicine [8]. We must study the nature of Chinese herbal medicines, including four gases, five flavors, channel tropismascending and descending, toxic and non-toxic, and study their respective properties with an overall thinking. We must use the basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine as a guiding ideology, build on the basis of clinical application, and achieve the advances of efficacy and medicinal properties of traditional Chinese medicine in the theoretical system.

V Efficacy theory is one of the core theories of traditional Chinese medicine

The traditional concept ion thinks that drug theory is the core theory of Chinese medicine, and drug propertydetermines efficacy. However, from the perspective of clinical practice, drug properties are based on efficacy, and efficacy is based on clinical practice and application. Modern pharmacological effects are continuously introduced into clinical practice, and new functions are discovered, and new medicinal properties can be continuously summarized. Therefore, the theory of traditional Chinese medicine efficacy is also the foundation and core content of traditional Chinese medicine theories. The study on the theory of traditional Chinese medicine efficacy is helpful to continuously deepen and improve the medicinal properties theory.

With the continuous development of clinical practice, more and more new effects of Chinese medicine are being explored, for example, the original efficacy of Forsythia, efficacy is eliminating heat, detoxification detumescence, and evacuating wind-heat, but the new discovery shows that it has vomiting effect; The efficacy of traditional Chinese medicines has been continuously refined to form three aspects: "the treatment of syndromes", "treatment of diseases", and "treatment of symptoms"; and the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine has also been supported by modern pharmacological research, which has greatly promoted the excavation of the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine [9].

The efficacy of Chinese medicine still has its limitations in understanding methods. Due to the limitation of understanding conditions, the use of the black box method to explore the efficacy of Chinese medicine has become inevitable. For example, Fuzi and cinnamon all have the effect of supplementing the fire and boosting the yang, but whether its mechanism of action and clinical application are the same till need further exploration [10].

The research on the efficacy of Chinese medicine is increasingly valued by researchers of Chinese medicine. However, the degree of emphasis on the efficacy of Chinese medicine is far less than the degree of emphasis on the properties of traditional Chinese medicine. The clinical research on the efficacy of Chinese medicine is not enough in terms of breadth and depth, and the efficacy description is also inadequate. This affects the in-depth study of the medicinal properties of Chinese medicine. To promote the all-round development of Chinese medicine, we should increase the degree of emphasis on the efficacy of Chinese medicine.

Funding

Our paper was supported by Hebei Provincial Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Project (grant numbers: 2016205).

Article Info

Article Type

Research Article

Publication history

Received 6 June, 2018
Accepted 29 June, 2018
Published 12 July, 2018

Copyright

© 2018 Guowei Zhang, Caifeng Jia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository. All rights reserved.

Author Info

Corresponding author

Guowei Zhang, Caifeng Jia
College of Chinese Medicine, Hebei University, Baoding, 071000, Hebei province, China

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