Applications of metabonomics in traditional Chinese medicine

Abstract

Metabonomics, a key aspect of systems biology, offers novel approaches for early diagnosis, pharmacotherapy, and health management in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). This paper summarizes its applications in establishing TCM quality standards, exploring material basis, clarifying mechanism, and assessing toxicity. By profiling TCM and its metabolites, metabonomics comprehensively captures chemical traits, enhancing quality evaluation precision. It also tracks metabolic dynamics to understand TCM’s absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, thereby facilitating the identification of active components and their underlying mechanisms. In toxicity assessment, metabonomics uncovers hepatic and renal toxicity while elucidating potential mechanisms. In summary, metabonomics fosters TCM modernization and globalization, serving as a pivotal tool for advancing research and development.

Keywords

metabonomics / traditional Chinese medicine / quality control / pharmacodynamic mechanism / toxicity evaluation

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