摘要
Traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） has an ancient history and unique system, including theory, methodology, prescription, formulation and medicines. There are differences between TCM and chemical drugs. For TCM, the multiple components in vivo are possibly to be detected; the number of components is relatively restricted; they could represent the therapeutic effect of the parent recipe; the concentrations and pharmacokinetics （PK） could affected by the combination of traditional medicines in recipe; the effects of new bioactive compounds （metabolites） related with those of their recipe; and the PK can be affected by body state in TCM treatment significantly. Therefore, the difficulty and challenge are far greater in PK study of TCMs than the chemical drugs.
Traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） has an ancient history and unique system, including theory, methodology, prescription, formulation and medicines. There are differences between TCM and chemical drugs. For TCM, the multiple components in vivo are possibly to be detected; the number of components is relatively restricted; they could represent the therapeutic effect of the parent recipe; the concentrations and pharmacokinetics （PK） could affected by the combination of traditional medicines in recipe; the effects of new bioactive compounds （metabolites） related with those of their recipe; and the PK can be affected by body state in TCM treatment significantly. Therefore, the difficulty and challenge are far greater in PK study of TCMs than the chemical drugs.
