Recent Advances in Chinese Herbal Drugs

Chinese herbal drugs have been used for centuries in the treatment of diseases with distinct success in the relief of various symptoms or ailments and in the promotion of recovery of the disordered functional systems. In the history of Chinese culture and medicine, new drugs, mostly medicinal plants, were discovered and new recipes compounded, and many were also discarded from time to time. At present, hundreds if not thousands of these herbal drugs are still in current use. With the advent of modern science and medicine in China, early clinical and laboratory workers in the country started to apply the scientific principles and methodology in the study of our herbal medicines. It was only in the last two or three decades that serious efforts have been undertaken to carry on in scope and depth of such programs. Traditional Chinese medicine has gradually integrated with Western medicine. Apparently there is a pressing demand for an authoritative work on the evaluation of the herbal drugs and methods of treatment according to the standards of modern scientific research in pharmacology,pathophysiology and clinical medicine. This book has been designed for such purpose. It is a collection of papers or essays on the actions and uses of Chinese drugs in terms of modern basic medical and clinical research.