Hormesis as a mechanistic approach to understanding herbal treatments in traditional Chinese medicine

Dali Wang; Edward J Calabrese; Baoling Lian; Zhifen Lin; Vittorio Calabrese

doi:10.1016/j.pharmthera.2017.10.013

Hormesis as a mechanistic approach to understanding herbal treatments in traditional Chinese medicine

Pharmacol Ther. 2018 Apr:184:42-50. doi: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2017.10.013. Epub 2017 Nov 8.

Authors

Dali Wang¹, Edward J Calabrese², Baoling Lian³, Zhifen Lin⁴, Vittorio Calabrese⁵

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Post-doctoral Research Station, College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
² Department of Public Health, Environmental Health Sciences, Morrill I, N344, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
³ Huadong Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, No. 221 West Yan'an Road, Shanghai, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Regional Environmental Quality, Beijing, China; Shanghai Key Lab of Chemical Assessment and Sustainability, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: lzhifen@tongji.edu.cn.
⁵ Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy.

PMID: 29080703
DOI: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2017.10.013

Abstract

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been long practiced and is becoming ever more widely recognized as providing curative and/or healing treatments for a number of diseases and physiological conditions. This paper posits that herbal medicines used in TCM treatments may act through hormetic dose-response mechanisms. It is proposed that the stimulatory (i.e., low dose) and inhibitory (i.e., high dose) components of the hormetic dose response correspond to respective "regulating" and "curing" aspects of TCM herbal treatments. Specifically, the "regulating" functions promote adaptive or preventive responses, while "curing" treatments alleviate the clinical symptoms. Patterns of hormetic responses are described, and the applicability of these processes to herbal medicines of TCM are explicated. It is noted that a research agenda aimed at elucidating these mechanisms and patterns would be expansive and complex. However, we argue its value, in that hormesis may afford something akin to a Rosetta Stone with which to interpret, translate, and explain TCM herbology in ways that are aligned with biomedical perspectives that could enable a more integrative approach to medicine.

Keywords: Dose-response relationship; Herb; Hormesis; Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM); Western Medicine.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Drugs, Chinese Herbal / pharmacology*
Hormesis / drug effects*
Humans
Medicine, Chinese Traditional / methods*

Substances

Drugs, Chinese Herbal