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REVIEW article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1449972
This article is part of the Research Topic Multi-omics Technology: Revealing the Pathogenesis of Diseases and the Mechanism of Drug Efficacy of Major Diseases such as Nutritional Metabolism Disorders and Mental Disorders View all 7 articles

Research progress of traditional Chinese medicine regulating intestinal flora in the treatment of hypertension

Provisionally accepted
Wen-Jun CHEN Wen-Jun CHEN 1Longfei Xiao Longfei Xiao 1Wenlong Guo Wenlong Guo 1Hailin Li Hailin Li 1Rong Chen Rong Chen 1,2*Qinghua Chen Qinghua Chen 1,2*
  • 1 Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, China
  • 2 Yunnan Key Laboratory for Dai and Yi Medicines, Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Hypertension is a common disease; however, it is more prevalent in older adults, and its prevalence is increasing in younger populations. Numerous studies have revealed that hypertension and the composition and functionality of the intestinal flora are closely correlated. The balance of the intestinal flora, intestinal barrier integrity, and metabolite content of the intestinal flora play significant roles in the occurrence and progression of hypertension. Therefore, we performed a comprehensive review of Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for hypertension, focusing on the role of the intestinal flora to understand the mechanism by which TCM regulates hypertension through its effects on the intestinal flora. We analyzed the findings using the terms "traditional Chinese medicine," "hypertension," "high blood pressure," "blood pressure," "intestinal flora," "intestinal barrier function," "intestinal flora metabolites," and other keywords from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP Chinese Science and Technology, Wanfang Data, PubMed, and ScienceDirect databases. We found that TCM treats hypertension by regulating the balance of the intestinal microbiota, increasing the abundance of beneficial bacteria, reducing the abundance of harmful bacteria, improving intestinal barrier function, increasing compact proteins, reducing intestinal permeability, and regulating the content of intestinal flora metabolites. The use of TCM to treat hypertension by regulating the intestinal flora is a promising therapeutic strategy. However, most studies are limited by small sample sizes and there is a lack of large-scale randomized controlled trials. In the future, multi-center controlled clinical trials are needed to verify the efficacy and safety of TCM, optimize therapeutic protocols, and establish a foundation for the standardized and personalized application of TCM in hypertension management.

    Keywords: Hypertension, intestinal flora, Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), intestinal flora metabolites, intestinal barrier function

    Received: 20 Jun 2024; Accepted: 22 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 CHEN, Xiao, Guo, Li, Chen and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Rong Chen, Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, China
    Qinghua Chen, Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.