Bioactive constituents and action mechanism of Xiaoyao San for treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Abstract

Xiaoyao San (XYS) is a classic Chinese medicine prescription. It is traditionally used to relieve syndrome of “liver stagnation and spleen deficiency”, a common syndrome type in traditional Chinese medicine, through soothing liver, tonifying spleen, and nourishing blood. Correspondingly, XYS has long application in the treatment of depression, dyspepsia and liver diseases. Given the rising of cutting-edge researches on XYS, there’s a significant need to diligently uncover the bioactive constituents and action mechanisms of XYS for treating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease accordingly.

Keywords: Xiaoyao San; Bioactive constituents; Mechanisms; Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; Fibrosis

Core Tip: Xiaoyao San (XYS) is a classic Chinese medicine prescription. It consists of 8 kinds of herbs, which thus contains abundant bioactive constituents to exert various biological effects. XYS has functions on relief of “liver stagnation and spleen deficiency”, and has long been used to treat liver diseases. Extensive effort has been made in the investigation of effective substances and action mechanisms of XYS against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and these achievements could contribute to build up the scientific foundation for its clinical application.