title: Advances in treatment of ulcerative colitis with herbs: from bench to bedside.
abstract: Ulcerative colitis (UC), an idiopathic inflammatory disorder in the colon, has become a clinical challenge, owing to the increasing incidence and poor prognosis. The conventional treatments for UC including aminosalicylates, corticosteroids, and immunosuppressants, induce remission in only half of patients. Meanwhile, the treatments often come with serious side effects which can be life-threatening. Herbal medicine, one of the most common traditional Chinese medicine modalities, has been introduced for centuries into clinical treatment of many human diseases such as infections and functional disorders. Recently, the potential effectiveness of herbs has been suggested as the treatment of UC, as shown by a variety of clinical trials and experimental studies. The herbs reported in the literature include aloe vera gel, butyrate, tormentil extracts, wheat grass juice, and curcumin. In the review, bioactivity of the herbs and their involvement in UC treatment are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Ping Wan, Hao Chen, Yuan Guo, Ai-Ping Bai, Department of Gastroenterology, the First Affiliated Hospital, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Ping Wan, Hao Chen, Yuan Guo, Ai-Ping Bai, Department of Gastroenterology, the First Affiliated Hospital, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Ping Wan, Hao Chen, Yuan Guo, Ai-Ping Bai, Department of Gastroenterology, the First Affiliated Hospital, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Ping Wan, Hao Chen, Yuan Guo, Ai-Ping Bai, Department of Gastroenterology, the First Affiliated Hospital, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China.
authors.forename: Ai-Ping
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Bai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D005765:Gastrointestinal Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000639:trends*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical / Q000639:trends*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D005765:Gastrointestinal Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts
keywords: Herb medicine; Herbs; Inflammatory bowel disease; Safety; Therapy; Ulcerative colitis