Traditional Chinese Medicine Herbs and Gut Microbiota

The gut microbiota plays an important role in the human body, for example, they are responsible for the metabolism of some dietary factors. Many diseases are related to the imbalances in the gut microbiota. Accumulating evidence shows that traditional Chinese medicine herbs may prevent or treat some diseases through interacting with gut microbiota. Oral administration of Chinese herbs may change the composition of intestinal flora, and the ingredients in Chinese herbs can be catalyzed into bioactive metabolites by some intestinal microbes, resulting in their pharmacological effects. However, the interaction between Chinese herbs and gut microbiota remains unclear. One of the main challenges is the complexity and diversity of the components of Chinese herbs and intestinal flora. Recently, the correction among diseases, gut microbiota, and Chinese herbs through many methodologies are studied by using novel methods and techniques, such as high-throughput gene sequencing, real-time quantitative PCR, and metabolomics analysis as well as the multivariate data statistics. In the future, the clarified mechanism will open a new avenue for the prevention or treatment of diseases by taking Chinese herbs which regulate the composition of gut microbiota, which may achieve the goals of the personalized medicine.