Current studies on anti-endotoxic chemical components of traditional Chinese medicine in China.

Endotoxin (ET) was found to have wide bioactivities and ET antagonists have become the pop research topic in life science. The chemical components of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) were the substance basis of its pharmacology. This review demonstrated the study state of about 18 chemical components from TCM, eg, organic acids of Radix Isatidis, anisodamine, matrine, tetramethypyrazine, colchicine, and glycine, etc, which showed anti-endotoxin effects through different routes. But now the most of them were limited to the laboratory. In the future, the trends of development should not only enlarge the range of research, but also strengthen the clinical study.