Journal of Guangxi Normal University(Natural Science Edition) ›› 2022, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (5): 324-331.doi: 10.16088/j.issn.1001-6600.2021100801

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Formation Mechanism and Biological Significance of Bitterness in Traditional Chinese Medicine

LÜ Jiahua, ZHU Chan, TANG Zongxiang*   

  1. School of Medicine & Holistic Integrative Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Jiangsu Nanjing 210023, China
  • Received:2021-10-08 Revised:2022-02-17 Online:2022-09-25 Published:2022-10-18

Abstract: “Bitterness” is a common sense of taste, and is also the main characteristic of the property of traditional Chinese medicine. Bitterness is one of the “five flavors” in the property of traditional Chinese medicine, which is a high overview of the efficacy and the law of action of traditional Chinese medicines. Bitter drugs have the characteristics of “diarrhea, dryness and firmness”, and the functions of “purging fire, lowering qi, drying dampness and strengthening yin”. Bitter medicine accounts for a high proportion of traditional Chinese medicine. In the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, bitter ingredients are considered to be the active components of bitter traditional Chinese medicine, which mainly include alkaloids, glycosides and bitter substances. The receptor molecules of bitter sensory are distributed in taste buds, intestines, respiratory tract and other tissues or organs. This paper summarized the active substances, bitterness classification, bitterness formation mechanism, the relationship between bitterness and disease, and the biological significance of bitterness in traditional Chinese bitter medicine. It is expected to provide reference for the study of the properties of traditional Chinese medicine and the clinical application of traditional Chinese bitter medicine.

Key words: bitterness, traditional chinese medicine properties, bitter receptor, bitter drug function, biological significance of bitter

CLC Number: 

  • R285.1
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