Advancement of pharmacokinetic studies on chinese herbal medicine-syn-thetic drug interactions

Traditional Chinese herbal medicines have been used for treating various ailments since medicine be- gan.The belief that natural products are much safer than synthetic drugs has led to dramatic growth of herbal medi- cine usage.Like synthetic drugs,herbal preparations also have potential to cause adverse effects and drug interac- tions.In this paper,pharmacokinetic studies on herb- drug interactions are reviewed and discussed in order to promote usage of herbs rationally and safely.