Is emColla Corii Asini/em just boiled donkey skin?

摘要

The preparation of Chinese medicine, exploration of the bioactive component, and underlying mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)?have always been regarded as a research hotspot and have attracted increasing attention of both scholars and clinical doctors. However, on February 18, 2018, the official Micro-blog of the National Health and Family Planning Commission's 12320 Public Health Hotline released an article stating that Ejiao (Colla Corii Asini) was merely boiled donkey skin. Soon the post was deleted and the 12320 Public Health Hotline apologized on behalf of the official Micro-blog. This topic has caused great controversy in China. Some experts and scholars believe that Ejiao (Colla Corii Asini) has the effect of enriching blood and nourishing Yin, while others indeed believe that Ejiao (Colla Corii Asini) is simply boiled donkey skin?and that there is no difference between donkey skin?and pig skin or cow skin. Accordingly, the China Association of TCM discussed the issue for the first time. Shuting Fang, the head of the China Association of TCM, said, “Ejiao (Colla Corii Asini) was first recorded in the ancient book Shennongbencaojing?in the Qin and Han Dynasty of China (221 B.C.–25 A.D.); there were 303 ancient books in the field of TCM recording the application of Ejiao (Colla Corii Asini), and more than 3200 ancient prescriptions were related to the application of Ejiao (Colla Corii Asini).” He also said, “the processing technology of Ejiao (Colla Corii Asini) is rather complicated—it is not as simple as boiling donkey skin. A large number of pharmacological and clinical studies have shown that Ejiao (Colla Corii Asini) has great potential to enrich blood and nourish Yin, and Ejiao (Colla Corii Asini) has been used widely in the therapy of gynecological disease, respiratory disease, and even malignant tumor.” Ejiao (Colla Corii Asini) is produced in Dong’e county, China and has been considered an article of tribute to the imperial family from the Han Dynasty (202 B.C. - 220 A.D.) to the Qing Dynasty?(the 17th century).?The preparation of Ejiao (Colla Corii Asini) involves more than fifty processes, all of which are manual operations, including hair removal, skin melting, decoction, etc. Even after 6-7 years, the operator just barely “skins the surface”. Chinese Pharmacopoeia noted that Ejiao (Colla Corii Asini) clearly had the functions of enriching blood and nourishing Yin. Furthermore, according to the statistics of CNKI, a famous literature database in China,?there are as many as 5707 articles regarding Ejiao (Colla Corii Asini); among them, nearly 20 scholarly papers?were published abroad and covered a range of topics that include clinical effects, mechanism of action, and historical record. Here, the present special issue regarding separation and pharmacological effects of TCM focuses on the effective substances within Chinese herbs and their mechanisms of action. Editor Group of TMR.