The Status quo and way forwards on the development of Tibetan medicine and the pharmacological research of tibetan materia Medica.

Tibetan medicine (TM), the second largest traditional Chinese medicine system in China, boasts a long history and an integrated theoretical system. It abounds with classical medical works constituing a unique corpus of Tibetan materia medica (TMM). China has now conceived a modern education system of TM, and Tibetan medical hospitals at different levels have been set up. Many enterprises are granted the privileges to produce preparations of TM in compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) regulations. However, there still exist unsolved issuess in TMM research as to the mechanism of action and the active constituents of TMM which are now been tackled through pharmacology and modern science and technology. Up till now, the mechanism of action and the active constituents of 141 medicines as well as 230 preparations of TM have been preliminarily revealed. This paper reviews in detail the development of TM and the status quo of TM's pharmacological research, in hope of serving a reference value for the promotion of the modernization of TM and understanding of TM among the medical scholars.

[Research progress of Tibetan medicine "Zha-xun"].

Zha-xun is widely used in Tibetan medicine and is also an international traditional medicine. This article would summarize the use status and research progress of Zha-xun by various ethnic groups all over the world, and the results show that it has various synonyms but most of them imply its most characteristic feature-outflow from the rock; Zha-xun resources are distributed in various places of the world, and its bearing spots are closely related to the geological structure; there are sharp arguments on the origins of Zha-xun, mainly including the minerals origin, biological fossils origin, biological origin, etc. Zha-xun has multiple functions and is mainly used to treat stomach disease, liver disease and rheumatoid arthritis in China, and premature ejaculation, impotence, vaginitis embolism in foreign countries. "Iron" Zha-xun is used into medicines both at home and abroad. According to ancient materia medica texts, it was mainly classified into five types, including gold Zha-xun, silver Zha-xun, copper Zha-xun, iron Zha-xun and lead Zha-xun mainly based on the predominance of color rather than the minerals contained. It is commonly believed by the domestic and foreign scholars that humic acid is the main medicinal part of Zha-xun, and their studies have found that it has a variety of pharmacological activities such as anti-ulcer, anti-inflammatory, liver protection, analgesia, immune regulation, increasing sexual desire and fertility, antioxidation, antibacterial, antidiabetic, antiepileptic, antipsychotic, etc. This paper provides a scientific basis for the rational utilization of Zha-xun resources.