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Fecal Tibetan medicines have a long history of application in China, with a good clinical efficacy. In order to promote the development and modernization of these medicines, we consulted ancient and modern Tibetan medicine literatures to collect and summarize the names, original species, natures, flavor, functions and processing methods of fecal Tibetan medicines. A total of 35 fecal Tibetan medicines were collected, such as Jiufen, Heibingpian, Langfen, Mafen, Goufen, Gezifen. The most commonly used medicines were Jiufen and Heibingpian. Both were mainly used for the treatment of indigestion, food abdominal distension, gastric ulcer, and other gastrointestinal diseases. At present, there are only a few studies on the active ingredients, pharmacodynamics and mechanism of action of these medicines. Therefore, further study shall be conducted. The regulation of gut microbiota may be a new way to evaluate the effectiveness of fecal Tibetan medicines and their mechanism of action.
Liver disease is one of the most risk factors threatening human health. It is of great significance to find drugs that can treat liver diseases, especially for acute and chronic hepatitis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and liver cancer. The search for drugs with good efficacy from traditional natural medicines has attracted more and more attention. Tibetan medicine, one of the China's traditional medical systems, has been widely used by the Tibetan people for the prevention and treatment of liver diseases for hundreds of years. The present paper summarized the natural Tibetan medicines that have been used in Tibetan traditional system of medicine to treat liver diseases by bibliographic investigation of 22 Tibetan medicine monographs and drug standards. One hundred and ninety three species including 181 plants, 7 animals, and 5 minerals were found to treat liver diseases in traditional Tibetan medicine system. The most frequently used species are Carthamus tinctorius, Brag-zhun, Swertia chirayita, Swertia mussotii, Halenia elliptica, Herpetospermum pedunculosum, and Phyllanthus emblica. Their names, families, medicinal parts, traditional uses, phytochemicals information, and pharmacological activities were described in detail. These natural medicines might be a valuable gift from the old Tibetan medicine to the world, and would be potential drug candidates for the treatment of liver diseases. Further studies are needed to prove their medicinal values in liver diseases treatment, identify bioactive compounds, elucidate the underlying mechanism of action, and clarify their side effects or toxicity with the help of modern phytochemical, pharmacological, metabonomics, and/or clinical trial methods.