Modern research on five flavors of traditional Chinese Medicine

Modern research on five flavors of traditional Chinese medicine five flavors of traditional Chinese medicine refer to five different tastes of Medicine: pungent, sour, sweet, bitter and salty It is mainly based on people's sense of taste organs, but there are also drugs that are determined by the function and efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine For example, acid drugs include two kinds of drugs with completely opposite acid-base properties The acidic substances are organic acids, while the alkaline substances are mainly boot substances The two kinds of drugs with completely opposite acid-base properties are all classified as "sour drugs" The basic reason is that the functions of sour drugs and astringent drugs are the same, that is, "acid astringency" It can be seen that the five flavors of traditional Chinese medicine are the summary of taste and efficacy There is a certain regularity between the five flavors of traditional Chinese medicine and its chemical composition and pharmacological action 1 Among 460 kinds of common Chinese medicine, there are 183 kinds of pungent drugs, accounting for 39.8% Among the pungent drugs, 57.9% of them were warm and hot, and most of them were pungent, cold and cold, and pungent The pungent medicine masters liver, spleen and lung meridians Pungent drugs mainly contain volatile oil, followed by the Xies, alkaloids and so on Pungent drugs are mainly distributed in aromatic drugs, resuscitation drugs, Wenli drugs, jiebiao drugs, Qufengshi drugs and Qili drugs The pungent medicine can be used for dispersing, and it has the functions of invigorating the stomach, removing dampness, opening the orifices and promoting qi For example, the eight kinds of commonly used aromatic wet drugs are all pungent drugs, and their common feature is that they all contain aromatic volatile oil Magnolia officinalis, Pogostemon cablin, Atractylodes macrocephala, Peilan and Amomum villosum contain 1%, 1.5%, 1.9%, 1.5% - 2% and 1.7% - 3% of the volatile oil, respectively Stomach invigorating is an important role of Aromatic Medicine The commonly used drugs for resuscitation (Chaxiang, borneol, Styrax, shiyingpu, camphor and toad cake) are also acrid In addition to toad cake, it mainly contains volatile oil, which has the characteristics of acrid fragrance The resuscitation can revive a comatose patient Kangxiang, Bingpian, Subing dropping pill and Guanxinsuhe pill have the effects of expanding coronary artery, anti myocardial ischemia and anti angina, which are consistent with the theory of "warming, opening the orifices" in traditional Chinese medicine The proportion of acrid drugs in Wenli medicine, jiebiao medicine, Qufengshi medicine and Qili medicine was 91.7%, 85.2%, 65% and 61%, respectively; 2 The number of sour drugs was relatively small Among the 42 commonly used sour drugs, there were 16 kinds of single sour drugs, 14 kinds of single astringent drugs and 12 kinds of sour astringent drugs Sour medicine masters liver, spleen and lung meridians Single sour medicine mainly contains organic acids, while single astringent medicine mainly contains ravages Sour and astringent medicine also contains a lot of kneading qualities, such as gallnut, 60-70% of boot quality, and chebula, 20% of boot quality -40%, pomegranate peel contains 10.4% to 21.3% of whiplash - when the whiplash contacts with the burn surface, local bleeding tissue, gastric ulcer surface and other parts, it can combine with tissue proteins to form water-insoluble compounds (kneading acid protein), precipitate or coagulate on the tissue surface to form a dense protective layer, which is conducive to local wound hemostasis, repair and healing, and free from stimulation Therefore, kneading can stop diarrhea, stop bleeding, treat burn and promote the healing of gastric ulcer For example, the astringent medicine, such as purple bead, brown carbon, Platycladus orientalis, Sanguisorba officinalis, etc., which contains a lot of ravages, has a better hemostatic effect 3 Among 460 kinds of traditional Chinese medicine, 172 kinds are sweet drugs, accounting for 37.4% There are 66 kinds of sweet drugs with neutral cold, accounting for 38.4%, 61 kinds with average sex, accounting for 35.5%, 45 kinds with warm, accounting for 26.1% Sweet medicine masters liver, spleen and lung meridian The main chemical components of sweet medicine are carbohydrate, protein, amino acid, and other nutrients needed by metabolism The vast majority of the anti food drugs, tonic drugs and heart nourishing and tranquilizing drugs are sweet drugs, which also account for a large proportion in the water medicine, hemostatic medicine and astringent medicine, but there is no sweet medicine in the aromatic medicine, Qi regulating medicine and resuscitation medicine For example, among the 53 commonly used tonics, there are 44 kinds of sweet drugs, accounting for 83% Sweet tonic can supplement the deficiency of Qi, blood, yin and Yang in five internal organs, supplement nutrition, strengthen human body, enhance and regulate immune function, and improve disease resistance 4 There are 188 kinds of bitter drugs in common Chinese medicine Among the bitter drugs, 104 were cold, 50 were warm, and 34 were mild The bitter medicine mainly enters the liver channel The bitter cold medicine in bitter medicine is mainly composed of alkaloids and camp components, which is the source of "bitter" and "cold" The commonly used drugs for clearing away heat and drying dampness and for conquering dampness are mostly bitter drugs The bitter cold medicine Coptis, Huangfen, phellodendron, Beidougen and Sophora flavescens in the heat clearing medicine mainly contain alkaloids, all of which have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and other functions; the mast, Anemarrhena, etc mainly contain the Xies, which have antibacterial, antipyretic, cholagogic and other functions For example, both rhubarb and senna leaves contain sennoside, which has purgative, antibacterial and hemostatic effects In addition, it should be noted that among the 50 kinds of toxic traditional Chinese medicine, there are 23 bitter drugs, accounting for 46% of the total number of toxic traditional Chinese medicine, accounting for a high proportion in the five flavors of traditional Chinese medicine 5 The quantity of salty medicine is less, mainly distributed in phlegm resolving medicine and kidney warming and Yang strengthening medicine, mostly mineral and animal medicine Salty medicine mainly enters the liver and kidney channels Salt medicine mainly contains iodine, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and other inorganic salt components The salty medicine seaweed, kelp, sea clam shell, sea pumice, corrugation, lemon stone, etc in the expectorant medicine all have the effect of expectorant, soft and firm For example, taking kelp and kelp orally can treat Liao tumor (simple goiter) There are 19 kinds (35.9%) of the 53 kinds of kidney warming and Yang invigorating drugs, most of which are animal drugs, such as antler, seahorse, clam ant, Ziheche, etc The salty taste is consistent with the warm nature, which has the effect of Tonifying the kidney and warming the Yang It can be seen from the above that the five flavor theory of traditional Chinese medicine is an integral part of the theory of traditional Chinese medicine property Due to the limitation of historical conditions, there are certain limitations It is necessary to further study the relationship between the five flavor of traditional Chinese medicine and its chemical components and pharmacological effects, which is conducive to improving the understanding and application of the five flavor theory.