Pharmacology and Ethnopharmacology

The meridian is a fundamental concept of Chinese medicine. Based on this concept, Chinese medicine physicians diagnose illnesses through analyzing the pulse of patients, and thereafter prescribe herbal formulae for remedy. During the past three decades, our research team found, the meridian could be measured through pulse diagnosis. Meridians match to harmonics of blood pressure pulse wave. With the meridian concept, we discovered a series of compounds from Cnidii Fructus which is the simplest herb formulae described in Shang Han Za Bing Lun. Including derived BMX, these compounds have been identifiedm as a HDAC8 inhibitor. Meanwhile, we developed these compounds guided by the meridian effect on liver and gall bladder which dominate the blood perfusion of brain recorded in Chinese medicine classic literature. As we expected, BMX passes through BBB (blood brain barrier) in our study. These results provide confidence to us for brain cancer therapy.