REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1605330
In vitro technology and ADMET research in traditional Chinese medicine
Provisionally accepted
- Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China
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Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) faces many challenges in the study of absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity (ADME/T) because of its complexity and diversity. In vitro models, which can effectively simulate the in vivo environment and provide a platform for the analysis of the efficacy and toxicity mechanism of TCMs, play important roles in the study of TCM compounds. This paper evaluates the advantages and limitations of in vitro models (including cell models, noncell traditional models, OoC and organoid technology) from the perspective of ADMET. We emphasize the innovative application of these models in analysing the absorption kinetics, brain targeting, complex metabolic pathways, excretion characteristics and potential toxicity of TCM components. This review emphasizes the advantages of in vitro methods in meeting the challenges of TCM multicomponent analysis, including the ability to study component interactions and screen potential drug candidates. In addition, we carried out a special in-depth analysis of OoC and organoid technology and systematically explored their unique advantages in the field of traditional Chinese medicine. Moreover, combined with bibliometric analysis, the literature on the Chinese medicine ADMET published in vitro in recent years was statistically summarized, and the hot spots and trends of TCM in this research were analysed.
Keywords: Traditional Chinese Medicine, admet, in vitro model, organ-on-chip, Organoids
Received: 04 Apr 2025; Accepted: 23 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xue, Gao, You, Xu, Zhou, Hai and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jiang Hai, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China
Liu Yang, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.