Clinical Use of Toxic Proteins and Peptides from Tian Hua Fen and Scorpion Venom. Article

Ling, Chen, Zhang, Yuanhui, Li, Jun et al. (2019). Clinical Use of Toxic Proteins and Peptides from Tian Hua Fen and Scorpion Venom. . 20(3), 285-295. 10.2174/1389203719666180622100641

cited authors

  • Ling, Chen; Zhang, Yuanhui; Li, Jun; Chen, Wenli; Ling, Changquan

fiu authors

abstract

  • Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been practiced in China for thousands of years. As a complementary and alternative treatment, herbal medicines that are frequently used in the TCM are the most accepted in the Western world. However, animal materials, which are equally important in the TCM practice, are not well-known in other countries. On the other hand, the Chinese doctors had documented the toxic profiles of hundreds of animals and plants thousand years ago. Furthermore, they saw the potential benefits of these materials and used their toxic properties to treat a wide variety of diseases, such as heavy pain and cancer. Since the 50s of the last century, efforts of the Chinese government and societies to modernize TCM have achieved tremendous scientific results in both laboratory and clinic. A number of toxic proteins have been isolated and their functions identified. Although most of the literature was written in Chinese, this review provide a summary, in English, regarding our knowledge of the clinical use of the toxic proteins isolated from a plant, Tian Hua Fen, and an animal, scorpion, both of which are famous toxic prescriptions in TCM.

publication date

  • January 1, 2019

keywords

  • Animals
  • Humans
  • Medicine, Chinese Traditional
  • Peptides
  • Plants, Medicinal
  • Proteins
  • Scorpion Venoms
  • Trichosanthin

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

Medium

  • Print

start page

  • 285

end page

  • 295

volume

  • 20

issue

  • 3