Chinese botanical product-drug

A Review of Chinese Botanical Product-Drug Interactions... 

SPECIFIC ISSUES REGARDING EVALUATION OF CHINESE BOTANICAL PRODUCT-DRUG INTERACTIONS... 

Similar to the challenges outlined in Chapter 2, the fact that most Chinese herbal medicines are complex mixtures of multiple active constituents further complicates the interpretation of study data, as well as extrapolation to other botanical products. Japanese Kampo (traditional Chinese herbal mixtures) prescriptions have been used for many years to treat different chronic conditions and are presently manufactured in Japan as drugs with standardized quantities and qualities of constituents. Homma et al. (51) evaluated the effect of three commonly used Japanese Kampo prescriptions, Sho-saiko-to (Xiao Chai Hu Tang), Saiboku-to, and Sairei-to, on prednisolone pharmacokinetics in humans. All three botanical prescriptions contain glycyrrhizin, a strong inhibitor of 11-p-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase. Chen et al. (52) had shown that glycyrrhizin decreased plasma clearance and increased AUC and concentration of prednisolone. 

Yuan M, Hong Y. Heterogeneity of Chinese medical herbs in Singapore assessed by fluorescence AFLP analysis. Am J Chin Med 2003 31(5) 773-779. Wu K-M, Farrelly J, Birnkrant D, et al. Regulatory toxicology perspectives on the development of botanical drug products in the United States. Am J Ther 2004 11(3) 213-217. 

Wu, K.M., J.G. Farrelly, R. Upton, and J. Chen. 2007. Complexities of the herbal nomenclature system in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) Lessons learned from the misuse of Aristolochia-related species and the importance of the pharmaceutical name during botanical drug product developanent. Phytomedicine 14(4) 273-279. 

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