Heat-clearing and detoxifying Chinese herbs (HDCHs) are mainly used to treat carbuncle, sore throat, erysipelas, gills, dysentery and other diseases induced by heat-toxicity. Inflammation is a defensive response to damaging factors in living organism with vascular system. In recent years, a large amount of experimental and clinical studies showed that HDCHs had good therapeutic effect on inflammation. This review analyzed the anti-inflammatory mechanism of 11 HDCHs by retrieving literature in past 5 years, including Lonicerae Japonicae Flos (Jinyinhua), Lonicerae Flos (Jinyinhua), Lonicerae Japonicae Caulis (Rendongteng), Forsythiae Fructus (Lianqiao), Rhizoma Coptidis（Huanglian）, Gardeniae Fructus (Zhizi), Andrographis Herba (Chuanxinlian), Taraxaci Herba (Pugongying), Scrophulariae Radix (Xuanshen), Pulsatillae Radix (Baitouweng), and Agrimoniae Herba (Xianhecao). The data showed that the regulatory effect of HDCHs on inflammation may be involved mainly in the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) or janus kinase-signal transducers and activators of transcription (JAK-STAT) pathway, with similarity of action links among these three. Based upon the analysis of literature, we proposed some promising directions in this research field, providing a reliable theoretical basis for both experimental researches and clinical practices of HDCHs.
Keywords: heat-clearing and detoxifying Chinese herbs; inflammation; molecular mechanisms; signal pathways.
Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.