Research progress on anti hypoxia traditional Chinese medicine
Oxygen is an important component of life activities, and its supply and diffusion into tissues are essential for survival. Cells have evolved complex regulatory mechanisms for oxygen, a fundamental substance necessary for life activities. However, due to environmental issues (such as high-altitude areas) or personal reasons (such as respiratory diseases), hypoxia can still occur in different populations, affecting various bodily functions, inducing the occurrence of diseases, and worsening the condition.

The commonly used anti hypoxia drugs in clinical practice are Western medicines such as nifedipine and dexamethasone, which have a certain alleviating effect on hypoxia symptoms, but their side effects are significant and their application is greatly limited. Traditional Chinese medicine has unique therapeutic effects in anti hypoxia, with few toxic side effects and wide application. It can improve the acute hypoxia tolerance of the body, increase arterial oxygen partial pressure and oxygen saturation, protect the nervous system, cardiovascular system, etc. from damage under hypoxia, regulate energy metabolism under hypoxia, improve the body’s anti hypoxia ability, inhibit hypoxia induced cell apoptosis, etc. Through multi-level and multi-target prevention and anti hypoxia damage, it has broad development and application prospects.

Hypoxia can induce inflammation, oxidative damage, endothelial cell damage, and autophagic apoptosis, leading to brain damage, lung damage, and myocardial damage in the body, resulting in the occurrence and deterioration of a series of diseases. The commonly used drugs in Western medicine for anti hypoxia have many contraindications and strong adverse reactions, while traditional Chinese medicine, as a medical treasure in China, not only has small adverse reactions but also has the advantages of multi-level, multi-target, and multi pathway. It has great application prospects in preventing and treating high-altitude diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and memory impairment caused by hypoxia. Natural monomeric compounds derived from traditional Chinese medicine, such as polyphenols, flavonoids, saponins, phenylpropanoids, alkaloids, and terpenes, have shown good biological activity in combating hypoxic injury; With the development and in-depth evaluation of modern separation technology, the original advantages and high technical content of traditional Chinese medicine extracts have great potential in the treatment of hypoxia; Traditional Chinese medicine formulas integrate multiple effective ingredients and have unique advantages in treating complex diseases with different causes, tissue locations, and types of injuries through multi-target, multi pathway, and multi-level approaches.
However, most of the research on monomeric compounds, extracts, and compound formulations of traditional Chinese medicine is still in the preclinical stage of pharmacological studies. In addition, compared to Western medicine, traditional Chinese medicine has a slower onset of action and lacks evaluation of its clinical safety and efficacy. Therefore, further research is needed on the clinical application of traditional Chinese medicine in preventing and treating hypoxic injury. In the later stage, basic research should be combined with clinical application to further determine the role and mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine in anti hypoxic injury. In summary, the multi-level and multi-directional research on monomeric compounds, extracts, and compound preparations of traditional Chinese medicine can more accurately open up new avenues and ideas for the treatment of hypoxia related diseases, search for drugs with multi-target, multi-level, and multi-channel regulation to prevent and combat hypoxia related diseases, and provide important theoretical basis for clinical treatment of hypoxia related diseases.