The Interrelationships between Intestinal Permeability and Phlegm Syndrome and Therapeutic Potential of Some Medicinal Herbs

The gastrointestinal (GI) tract has an intriguing and critical role beyond digestion in both modern and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), as demonstrated by its link with the immune system. In this review, we attempted to explore the interrelationships between increased GI permeability and phlegm, an important pathological factor in CAM, syndrome, and therapeutic herbs for two disorders. The leaky gut and phlegm syndromes look considerably similar with respect to related symptoms, diseases, and suitable herbal treatment agents, including phytochemicals even though limitations to compare exist. Phlegm may be spread throughout the body along with other pathogens via the disruption of the GI barrier to cause several diseases sharing some parts of symptoms, diseases, and mechanisms with leaky gut syndrome. Both syndromes are related to inflammation and gut microbiota compositions. Well-designed future research should be conducted to verify the interrelationships for evidence based integrative medicine to contribute to the promotion of public health. In addition, systems biology approaches should be adopted to explore the complex synergistic effects of herbal medicine and phytochemicals on conditions associated with phlegm and leaky gut syndromes.

PENANGANAN JERAWAT SINDROM AKUMULASI DAHAK MENGGUNAKAN AKUPUNTUR DAN HERBAL JIANGHUANG

Background : Acne vulgaris is a chronic skin disease that occurs due to chronic inflammation of the pilosebaceous glands. Acne is clinically affected by an increase in sebum, Propionibacterium bacteria acne, hormones, genetic, stress, diet and the environment. In Chinese Medicine, acne vulgaris belongs to categories of Feng Ci, it is caused by wind-heat pathogens that attack the lungs and excessive consumption of spicy and oily foods resulting in accumulation of heat in the stomach and intestines. In Chinese Medicine, sebaceous glands are associated with the Lung and Spleen. Patients classified as acne with differentiation of accumulation of phlegm syndrome. Purpose: To know the effect of acupuncture therapy at LI-4 Hegu, ST-36 Zusanli , ST-40 Fenglong, SP-6 Sanyinjiao and herbal therapy using Jianghuang in patients Acne vulgaris with differentiation of accumulation of phlegm syndrome. Methods: Acupuncture therapy at LI-4 Hegu, ST-36 Zusanli , ST-40 Fenglong, SP-6 Sanyinjiao were given 12 times, 3 times a week, with the principle of therapy to reinforce phlegm, strengthen the spleen and raise the spleen. In herbal therapy the patient is given herbal Jianghuang (Curcuma longa.L) dose of 3 grams 12 times, 3 times a week. Results: Compound of curcumin which is antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and wound healing affects acne. Acupuncture and herbal therapy given 12 times, 3 times a week can overcome acne vulgaris. Conclusion: Acupuncture and herbal therapy can overcome the growth of acne.

Recent Advances and Perspective of Studies on Phlegm Syndrome in Chinese Medicine

This review paper summarized the current situation of studies on the essence of phlegm syndrome and relation between phlegm syndrome, diseases, and therapeutics based on published English articles. In studies on the essence of phlegm syndrome, omic technologies were used to explore the molecular basis of phlegm syndrome; in studies on relation between phlegm syndrome and diseases, discovery of markers of phlegm syndrome in diseases becomes a hotspot; the distribution of phlegm syndromes in some common chronic diseases was found; in the therapy of phlegm syndrome, two therapeutic models, treatment with CM formula and treatment with a combination of CM formula and Western medicine, were used most frequently. It is certainly that using one omic technology is not able to deal with the complexity of phlegm syndrome and that the use of a combination of multiple omic methods will be a trend in future studies. Meanwhile, for rapidly increasing clinical research quality of phlegm syndrome, a series of agreed criteria, such as syndrome diagnostic criteria and efficacy criteria clinical studies of phlegm syndrome, needed to be established urgently, and there was an urgent need of standardizing syndrome names in English.

Correlations between Phlegm Syndrome of Chinese Medicine and Coronary Angiography: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Phlegm is one of the most common patterns of coronary artery disease (CAD) in Chinese medicine. Our research was aimed at investigating the association between phlegm syndrome of CAD and coronary angiography (CAG) by meta-analysis. According to inclusion criteria, a total of 30 studies involving 5,055 CAD patients were included. The meta-analysis showed that phlegm syndrome patients were prone to multivessel disease (28 studies, OR = 1.53, 95% CI, 1.24 to 1.88,P<0.01) and higher Gensini score (2 studies, OR = 5.90, 95% CI, 1.86 to 9.94,P=0.004), but not obviously relevant to severe stenosis (≥75%) of coronary arteries (13 studies, OR = 1.20, 95% CI, 0.63 to 2.27,P=0.57). We concluded that the coronary arteries lesions of CAD patients with phlegm syndrome were more severe than those with nonphlegm syndromes. Phlegm syndrome should, therefore, be regarded as a dangerous pattern of CAD with worse prognosis.

A Metabonomics Profiling Study on Phlegm Syndrome and Blood-Stasis Syndrome in Coronary Heart Disease Patients Using Liquid Chromatography/Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

A metabonomics approach based on liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-Q-TOF/MS) was utilized to obtain potential biomarkers of coronary heart disease (CHD) patients and investigate the ZHENG types differentiation in CHD patients. The plasma samples of 20 CHD patients with phlegm syndrome, 20 CHD patients with blood-stasis syndrome, and 16 healthy volunteers were collected in the study. 26 potential biomarkers were identified in the plasma of CHD patients and 19 differential metabolites contributed to the discrimination of phlegm syndrome and blood-stasis syndrome in CHD patients(VIP>1.5; P<0.05)which mainly involved purine metabolism, pyrimidine metabolism, amino acid metabolism, steroid biosynthesis, and arachidonic acid metabolism. This study demonstrated that metabonomics approach based on LC-MS was useful for studying pathologic changes of CHD patients and interpreting the differentiation of ZHENG types (phlegm and blood-stasis syndrome) in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).