Understanding channel tropism in traditional Chinese medicine in the context of systems biology

Abstract

Channel tropism is investigated and developed through long-term clinical practice. In recent years, the development of channel tropism theory has attracted increasing attention. This study analyzed channel tropism theory and the problems associated with it. Results showed that this theory and systems biology have a similar holistic viewpoint. Systems biology could provide novel insights and platform in the study of channel tropism. Some problems in channel tropism theory, including pharmacology and action mechanism, were investigated.

Keywords

systems biology / channel tropism theory / traditional Chinese medicine / application

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Acknowledgements

This study is supported by the National Basic Research Program (Grant No. 2009CB522707), the Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of Wuhan City (Grant No. D201050231081), and the Project of Hubei Provincial Department of Education (Grant No. Q20101081).

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Ping Liu, Songlin Liu, Gang Chen, and Ping Wang declare that they have no conflict of interest.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg