title: How would composite traditional Chinese medicine protect the brain--an example of the composite formula "Pien Tze Huang".
abstract: Chinese medicine has a long history of several thousand years. The main form of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is composite, i.e. a mixture of up to 10 medicinal products. Thus a composite prescription of 4-5 kinds of Chinese medicinal products may contain several hundred kinds of chemical composition. The active ingredients and clinical efficacy of which are difficult to characterize. We aim to review the Chinese literature of TCMs with neuroprotective effects. We illustrate with our study on Pien Tze Huang (PZH) the use of in vivo tests in the study of composite TCM. Our results show evidence that PZH might have neuropreventive effects in rats.
authors.affiliation: Brain Research Centre, School of Biomedical Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: W P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lü
authors.forename: Y-X J
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Y W
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Wai
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Mak
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Yew
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002493:Central Nervous System Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D020441:Ginkgo biloba; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000627:therapeutic use; D051381:Rats; D000096983:Ginkgo Extract
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts; C517866:fufang danshen; C539975:pien tze huang; C063170:Ginkgo biloba extract; D000096983:Ginkgo Extract