How are Chinese herbal medicines made?

Traditional Chinese medicine is a treasure of China. Starting from Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica, the effects of many traditional Chinese medicines have been introduced in great detail. We should learn from the wisdom of the ancients, carry forward our traditional medical technology, and make contributions to patients.

1. Chinese medicine processing and clinical efficacy

Chinese medicine preparation is a summary of TCM's long-term clinical experience in medication. The determination of processing technology should be based on clinical needs. Whether the processing technology is reasonable and the method is appropriate directly affects the clinical efficacy. The cleaning, cutting, heating and adding auxiliary materials of Chinese medicine can affect the clinical efficacy.

Heating is an important means of preparing traditional Chinese medicine, among which frying and calcining are the most widely used. Many Chinese medicines can kill enzymes and preserve glycosides after frying, such as mustard seeds and burdock seeds; calcination is often used to process mineral medicines, animal shells and fossil medicines, which can make them brittle and easy to break, and their effects will also change. For example, the drying and astringent effects of calcined alum are enhanced. The remaining blood can stop bleeding after being calcined into charcoal. After heating and boiling, the toxicity of Chuanwu and Caowu is significantly reduced, ensuring the safety and effectiveness of clinical use.

After being processed with auxiliary materials, Chinese medicine will undergo certain changes in its nature, taste, efficacy, action trend and meridians, and toxic and side effects, thereby maximizing its therapeutic effect.

2. The influence of processing on the medicinal properties

The effects of processing on medicinal properties include its nature and flavor, rising and falling, meridians, toxicity, etc.

(1) The influence of processing on the four properties and five flavors ① Correct the excessive properties of the drug through "counter-processing" to moderate the drug properties. For example, after processing gardenia and ginger juice, its bitter and cold nature can be reduced to avoid hurting the middle part; ② Through "processing", the nature and taste of the medicine can be enhanced, thereby enhancing the efficacy. For example, processing Coptis chinensis with bile can enhance its bitter and cold nature, so the so-called cold can make things colder; processing Curculigo with wine can enhance its kidney-warming and yang-strengthening effects, so the so-called hot can make things hotter; ③ Through processing, the medicinal properties can be changed and the use of the medicine can be expanded. For example, Arisaema is pungent and warm, good at drying dampness and resolving phlegm, dispelling wind and arresting convulsions; when bile is added to make Arisaema bile, its nature and flavor become bitter and cool, and it has the effects of clearing away heat and resolving phlegm, calming wind and calming convulsions.

(2) The effect of processing on the rise, fall, floating and sinking of drugs. After processing, the direction of action of drugs can be changed. For example, wine processing can lead the drug to move upward, while salt roasting can lead the drug to move downward into the kidney meridian.

(3) The influence of processing on the meridians. The processing of traditional Chinese medicine is often guided by the theory of meridians, especially the use of certain auxiliary materials to process drugs, such as vinegar for the liver meridian, honey for the spleen meridian, and salt for the kidney meridian.

(4) The impact of processing on toxicity. Common processing methods for detoxification include purification, water bleaching, water flying, heating, adding auxiliary materials, degreasing and frosting, etc. The toxicity of toxic traditional Chinese medicines can be reduced through processing.

3. Effect of processing on drug composition

The preparation method of medicine is determined according to the nature of the medicine and the needs of treatment. The properties of a drug determine its physical and chemical effects. Different processing methods and the addition of different excipients have different effects on the physical and chemical properties and therapeutic effects of the drugs. After Chinese medicine is processed, the ingredients it contains undergo different changes due to the treatment of temperature, time, solvents and different auxiliary materials.

The chemical composition of Chinese medicinal materials is very complex. For a specific Chinese medicinal material, the chemical components with certain physiological effects contained in it may be effective ingredients that play a therapeutic role, or they may be ineffective or even harmful ingredients in the process of treating diseases. Although the effective ingredients of most Chinese medicinal materials are still not very clear, people have realized from practice that the chemical components in Chinese medicinal materials that may have physiological effects are mainly in the following categories: alkaloids, glycosides, volatile oils, resins, organic acids, fats, inorganic salts and so on. The purpose of processing is to retain the ingredients with therapeutic effects and remove ineffective or even harmful ingredients.

The most important thing about Chinese medicine is its processing. Which part of it can be used as medicine, in what state, whether it needs to be decocted after being used as medicine, and what the temperature of decocting is, all of these are very important. If the method is not right, it may not cure the disease and may even have side effects. Therefore, we must master the processing methods of Chinese medicine.