代谢组学技术在中医药关键科学问题研究中的应用前景分析

Metabonomics and its Application Prospect in TCM Study

代谢组是生物体整体功能状态的"生化表型",具有"终点放大"的特征,这些特质使得代谢组学在中医药系列关键科学问题研究中具有突出优势。中医理论的整体观与"组学"强调的从整体角度研究生物体的功能水平相一致。随着基于核磁、质谱以及化学计量学软件的代谢组学分析技术平台的不断发展,代谢组学已在中医药现代研究中得到了广泛应用,包括中医证候本质、中药作用机制、中药整体药效评价和安全性评价、中药质量控制与中药资源研究等。本文在综述国内中医药领域代谢组学研究进展的基础上,对其应用前景和存在问题进行了扼要评析。

Metabonomics, characterized with the biochemical phenotypc and end-point amplification of the global biological and functional status, is playing a substantial role in the study of traditional Chinese medicines （TCM）. TCM is based on ＂holism＂ philosophy as in the case of ＂omics＂ theories. Based on continued development of the analytical platforms including nuclear magnetic resonance （ NMR）, spectroscopy and mass spectrometry（MS） in combination with powerful chemometric software, the application of metabonomics strategy into the study of the scientific questions of TCM including syndrome differentiation, pharmacological and toxicological evaluation, quality control of herbal drugs and individual therapy has become more and more widespread. Here, the prospect and some critical problems of using metabonomic approach for TCM study were highlighted based on a general review of the recent progress in this domain.