Keywords: Comparative Medicine; Traditional Medicine; Traditional Theories; Chemical Composition; Pharmacological Mechanism
Most nations in the world have their own traditional medical (TM) system, and the TM formation and development history, scientific connotations and contemporary characteristics vary among nations and from those of modern medicine. Comparative research studies on TM, from the perspective of traditional culture, natural resources, medical theory, drug use characteristics, curative effects, pharmacological mechanisms, and so on, will reveal similarities and differences among TMs as well as between TM and modern medicine.
It is also valuable to discover the common features and scientific connotations of the formation of TMs, and to explore new pharmaceutical knowledge based on the differences in TMs, which will help to reveal the scientific principles of TM and guide the development of new drugs from TMs, so as to promote the high-quality development of TMs and integrative medicine and to better serve the community of common health for mankind.
For this issue, we welcome reviews and basic research and translational reports presenting comparative research on TMs or the development of herbal novel drugs, as well as clinical reports describing outcomes achieved with the use of TMs in integrative medicine.
Publications in this special issue aim not only to present the clinical effects and underlying mechanisms of TMs, but also the commonalities and differences among TMs from different areas of the world as well as comparisons and combinations of TM with modern medicine.