Traditional Chinese medicine for treatment of sepsis and related multi-organ injury

Yaqin Song; Weiji Lin; Wei Zhu

doi:10.3389/fphar.2023.1003658

Traditional Chinese medicine for treatment of sepsis and related multi-organ injury

Front Pharmacol. 2023 Jan 19:14:1003658. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1003658. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yaqin Song¹, Weiji Lin², Wei Zhu¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Emergency Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
² Institute of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.

Abstract

Sepsis is a common but critical illness in patients admitted to the intensive care unit and is associated with high mortality. Although there are many treatments for sepsis, specific and effective therapies are still lacking. For over 2,000 years, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has played a vital role in the treatment of infectious diseases in Eastern countries. Both anecdotal and scientific evidence show that diverse TCM preparations alleviate organ dysfunction caused by sepsis by inhibiting the inflammatory response, reducing oxidative stress, boosting immunity, and maintaining cellular homeostasis. This review reports on the efficacy and mechanism of action of various TCM compounds, herbal monomer extracts, and acupuncture, on the treatment of sepsis and related multi-organ injury. We hope that this information would be helpful to better understand the theoretical basis and empirical support for TCM in the treatment of sepsis.

Keywords: acupuncture; herbal monomer extracts; inflammation; sepsis; traditional Chinese medicine compounds.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Wuhan science and technology bureau, Wuhan Applied Basic Research Project (No. 2017060201010177) and the program of Tongji-Rongcheng Center for Biomedicine (HUST).