Review & Monography

Soft Matter Science of Traditional Chinese Medicine: a new frontier at the intersection of traditional Chinese medicine and modern material science*

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  • 1. School of Chinese Materia Medica, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 102488, China;
    2. School of Chinese Materia Medica, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 301617, China;
    3. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, China;
    4. National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing 102629, China

Received date: 2022-11-16

  Online published: 2024-06-24

Abstract

Studies of the material basis of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are fundamental and critical to the advances of the modernization of TCM. Differing from the traditional research mode of “separation of chemical component-structural identification-bioactivity” for the material basis study of TCM, a new research mode of “component interaction-structure of aggregates-bioactivity” has emerged recently. Based on the recent research development on micro or nano-aggregates from the material basis of TCM, together with the guidance of the integral and systematic view advocated by TCM theory, we herein proposed a new interdisciplinary field as “Soft Matter Science of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SMSTCM)” from the point-view of aggregate science. The definition, study method, characterization techniques, the research challenges, and the theoretical and practical perspectives for the soft matter of TCM were discussed. It is expected that the material basis of TCM for disease treatment will be unraveled from a different point of view. Meanwhile, a more broad theoretical and practical innovation platform is assumed for the continuous research on the material basis of TCM and the modernization of TCM.

Cite this article

LIU Yue, LI Quan, MA Shuang-cheng . Soft Matter Science of Traditional Chinese Medicine: a new frontier at the intersection of traditional Chinese medicine and modern material science*[J]. Chinese Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis, 2023 , 43(1) : 45 -50 . DOI: 10.16155/j.0254-1793.2023.01.06

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