[Relationships between properties and functional targets of Chinese herbs]

Functional targets are the objects that Chinese herbal medicines act directly upon. If the relationships between the properties of Chinese herbs and their functional targets were analyzed clearly, it would benefit the overall understanding of the holistic mechanisms of Chinese herbal treatments. In this paper, data regarding the properties of Chinese herbs and their functional targets were collected from the 2005 edition of The People's Republic of China Pharmacopoeia. After analyzing and assessing the data, the relationships were defined between the four qi, meridian entry and medicinal functional targets and between the four qi, five flavors and mode of function. Then the relationships between a single herbal medicine and a prescription were analyzed, and the results conformed with the traditional knowledge of Chinese herbal nature and efficacy. This demonstrated that the holistic mechanisms of the properties of Chinese herbs adhere to the findings, which may be beneficial for the development and compatibility of Chinese herbal medicines.