Bioactive Herbal Extracts of Traditional Chinese Medicine Applied with the Biomaterials: For the Current Applications and Advances in the Musculoskeletal System

Haotao Li; Rongjie Wu; Haiyang Yu; Qiujian Zheng; Yuanfeng Chen

doi:10.3389/fphar.2021.778041

Bioactive Herbal Extracts of Traditional Chinese Medicine Applied with the Biomaterials: For the Current Applications and Advances in the Musculoskeletal System

Front Pharmacol. 2021 Oct 28:12:778041. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.778041. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Haotao Li^{1

2}, Rongjie Wu^{1

2}, Haiyang Yu¹, Qiujian Zheng¹, Yuanfeng Chen^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthopedics, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
² Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, China.
³ Research Department of Medical Science, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has demonstrated superior therapeutic effect for musculoskeletal diseases for thousands of years. Recently, the herbal extracts of TCM have received rapid advances in musculoskeletal tissue engineering (MTE). A literature review collecting both English and Chinese references on bioactive herbal extracts of TCM in biomaterial-based approaches was performed. This review provides an up-to-date overview of application of TCMs in the field of MTE, involving regulation of multiple signaling pathways in osteogenesis, angiogenesis, anti-inflammation, and chondrogenesis. Meanwhile, we highlight the potential advantages of TCM, opening the possibility of its extensive application in MTE. Overall, the superiority of traditional Chinese medicine turns it into an attractive candidate for coupling with advanced additive manufacturing technology.

Keywords: biomaterials; herbal extracts; musculoskeletal tissue engineering; orthopedics; traditional Chinese medicine.

Publication types

Review