Please talk about the purpose and matters needing attention of cutting traditional Chinese medicine

Section 1 Purpose of Processing Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine comes from plants, animals and minerals in nature. These natural medicines are hard and rough in texture, or contain impurities, mud and sand, or toxic components, and must be processed before they can be used. The processing of traditional Chinese medicine has many purposes. Often a traditional Chinese medicine can have multiple processing methods, and a processing method has several uses, with clear priorities and close links. It is generally believed that the purpose of processing traditional Chinese medicine is as follows.

(a) to reduce or eliminate the toxicity or side effects of drugs

Some drug fragments have good curative effect, but because of their toxicity or side effects, their clinical application is unsafe, so it is necessary to reduce their toxicity or side effects by processing. All previous dynasties attached great importance to the processing of toxic drugs, and each generation had a good discussion on detoxification methods and processing functions. For example, Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii can be processed by soaking, bleaching, cooking and adding auxiliary materials to reduce toxicity. Another example is the roots of acacia, castor bean, Phytolacca acinosa and day lily, which can be processed by heating to reduce their toxicity.

Processing can also eliminate or reduce side effects. In Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhongjing put forward that Ephedra "is boring, but it sweats out of the deep valley". It shows that ephedra has the side effects of "annoyance" and "excessive sweating", which can be reduced by "boiling several times before use". Semen Platycladi has the functions of calming the heart, calming the nerves, moistening the intestines and relaxing the bowels. If it is used for calming the heart and calming the nerves, it is necessary to avoid loose bowels and diarrhea after taking it. After degreasing and sanding, the side effects of loose bowels and diarrhea were eliminated.

(2) changing or reducing the performance of the drug.

Traditional Chinese medicine uses cold, hot, warm, cool, pungent, sweet, sour, bitter and salty to express the performance of traditional Chinese medicine. Drugs with strong sexual taste will bring some side effects in clinical application. For example, too cold hurts the yang, too hot hurts the yin, too sour hurts the teeth and tendons, too bitter hurts the stomach and body fluid, too sweet hurts the body fluid and qi, and too salty helps phlegm and dampness. In order to meet the needs of different diseases and patients' physique, on the one hand, we can change or alleviate the excessive taste of drugs through compatibility and processing. In the Tang Dynasty, Sun Simiao mentioned that cassia twig should be eaten raw, but in the case of pregnant women, in order to prevent "fetal movement", it should be "boiled" (that is, fried) before use. Mindeiro once said: Fructus Aurantii "helps digestion, eliminates stagnation, and uses bran to fry, which is both vigorous and afraid of hurting vitality." Mahuangxin powder has a strong effect of relieving exterior syndrome, but its antitussive and antiasthmatic effects are weakened after honey baking. Traditional Chinese medicine often relieves its medicinal properties through processing methods such as frying, bran frying and honey frying, so it is said that "it is willing to slow down" and "frying slows down its properties".

According to the clinical observation of traditional Chinese medicine, many drugs have different effects, such as pollen typhae used to promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis, and fried to stop bleeding. Raw licorice, sweet and flat, can clear away heat and detoxify; Honey-baked licorice, warm in nature, can tonify the middle and replenish qi, so there is a saying that "tonic soup should be cooked, laxatives should not be overdone".

Through processing, the properties of drugs have been changed or alleviated, and their clinical applications have their own advantages.

(3) Enhance the curative effect of drugs.

Besides compatibility, processing is another effective way and means to achieve this goal. As a medicine, it is an effective substance. Through proper treatment, the dissolution rate of active substances contained in drugs can be improved, and the dissolved substances are easy to be absorbed, thus improving the curative effect. Yao Zong Jing Yao wrote in the Ming Dynasty: "Cassia seed, radish seed, mustard seed, perilla seed, leek seed, and semen Celosiae, all medicinal seeds must be fried to get their taste." This is the basis and original intention of modern "everything must be bombed". Because the seed has a hard shell, the effective components are not easy to fry, and the epidermis bursts after frying, so the effective components are easy to fry. Tussilago farfara, Aster and other drugs for resolving phlegm and relieving cough have been roasted with honey, which enhances the effect of moistening lung and relieving cough, while honey is sweet, benefiting spleen and moistening lung and relieving cough. After being used as an auxiliary material, it has synergistic effect with drugs and enhances the curative effect.

Modern experiments have proved that extracting Rhizoma Arisaematis from bile can enhance spasmolysis. The antibacterial effect of Rhizoma Coptidis (including flavonoid glycosides) made from Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch or Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch cork can be improved by 5-6 times.

(four) to change or enhance the status and trend of drug action.

Traditional Chinese medicine usually summarizes the location of diseases (symptoms) by meridians and viscera, and expresses the action trend of drugs by ups and downs. Diseases tend to be upward in pathogenesis and syndrome trends, such as cough, asthma and vomiting blood. Descending: diarrhea, metrorrhagia, enuresis, etc. The ups and downs of drugs can be used to correct the imbalance of body functions. Processing can introduce drugs into menstruation and change the position and trend of action. Rhubarb is bitter and cold, heavy but not floating. Its purpose is to walk, not to keep. After brewing, it can induce drugs to ascend, and it can produce the effects of clearing away heat and eliminating pathogenic factors, and treat toothache caused by excessive heat in upper energizer. Cortex Phellodendri is yin in nature, thin in gas and strong in taste, and belongs to the owner. The phellodendron amurense in Shangqing Pill was reduced to its original health after being processed with wine.

A drug is often classified into several meridians, and its clinical effect is often suspected to be scattered. It can be properly adjusted by processing to make its function concrete. For example, Bupleurum, which enters the heart meridian, liver meridian, triple energizer and gallbladder meridian, can be treated with vinegar to treat liver meridian diseases more effectively. Predecessors summed up some regular understandings from practice: "Generally speaking, life begins to rise and fall", "wine rises" and "salt enters the kidney".

(5) Easy to adjust and prepare.

The roots, rhizomes, vines and fruits of plants are processed into pieces, filaments, segments and blocks of certain specifications, which is convenient for adjusting the dosage and formula. Minerals, shellfish and animal bone nail drugs, such as native copper, magnetite, ochre, oyster, concha Haliotidis, pangolin, etc. The texture is hard, difficult to crush, inconvenient to make and adjust, and the effective components are difficult to fry in a short time, so it must be processed. The texture is crisp and easy to crush by processing methods such as calcination, calcination quenching and sand ironing.

(6) It is beneficial to the storage and preservation of drug effects.

The medicine is dried during processing, which reduces the water content of the medicine, avoids mildew and deterioration, and is beneficial to storage. Some insect and animal drugs, such as ootheca mantidis, can kill eggs by heating to prevent hatching and facilitate storage. After steaming, frying, boiling and other heat treatments, plant seed drugs can stop the germination of seeds and are easy to preserve without deterioration, such as perilla seeds and radish seeds. Some drugs containing glycosides, such as Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi and almond, destroy the activity of enzyme after heating to avoid the loss of effective components by enzymolysis, which is beneficial to long-term preservation.

(7) odor and taste correction, easy to take.

Animals or other drugs with specific bad smell are often disgusted by patients, and it is difficult to take orally or have adverse reactions such as nausea, vomiting and upset after taking them. For the convenience of taking, such drugs are often treated by rinsing, wine processing, vinegar processing, honey processing, bran frying and other methods, which can correct the smell and taste. For example, Zaocys and Placenta Hominis made of wine, Bombyx Batryticatus fried with bran, Toona sinensis root bark made of vinegar, frankincense and myrrh are often washed with running water.

(eight) to improve the purity of drugs and ensure the quality of drugs.

In the process of collection, transportation and storage, traditional Chinese medicine is often mixed with sediment, impurities, moldy products and non-medicinal parts. Therefore, it is necessary to clean it and achieve a certain cleanliness, which is of great significance to ensure the accuracy of clinical dosage. For example, seed medicine should remove sand and impurities, root medicine should remove reed head, skin medicine should remove rough skin, and veterinary medicine should remove head, feet and warpage. Although some drugs belong to the same plant, they should be used separately because of their different medicinal parts and different functions. For example, ephedra perspires after menstruation and stops sweating at the root, so it should be used separately to meet medical needs.