Study on the prescription regularity of antipruritic formulas based on the traditional Chinese medicine inheritance auxiliary platform

LI Luyang; ZHANG Xin; MA Yuan; HU Xinyan

doi:10.11786/sypfbxzz.1674-1293.20250212

Abstract：Objective This study aims to explore the prescription regularity of antipruritic formulas based on data mining using the traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)inheritance auxiliary platform.Methods The antipruritic formulas recorded in Chinese Pharmacopoeia(2020 edition),Chinese Medicine Prescription Preparations,Dictionary of Chinese Medicine Prescriptions and Antipruritic Prescriptions of the past Dynasties were collected.Then the TCM inheritance auxiliary platform V3.5 was used to analyze the medication frequency,TCM properties,the four qi,five flavors,meridian tropism,core medicinal ingredients,and formula clustering.The prescription regularity of both internal and external antipruritic formulas were further analyzed based on these patterns.Results A total of 429 antipruritic formulas were collected,of which 275 formulas were included after removing duplicates and invalid data.Among them,99 formulas were internal(oral)and 176 were external(topical).These formulas involved 226 different Chinese medicinal herbs,with a total usage frequency of 1,730 times:927 for internal formulas and 803 for external formulas.External formulas were more commonly used for antipruritic.The most frequently used herbs in internal and external antipruritic formulas were Saposhnikovia(Fangfeng)and Borneol(Bingpian),respectively.There was a significant difference in the usage frequency among all antipruritic formulas and the internal and external formulas,but the properties,flavors,and meridian tropism were generally consistent.The herbs commonly exhibited both cold and warm properties,with predominant flavors of pungent,bitter,and sweet.Most formulas targeted the lungs,heart,spleen,and liver meridians,with a preference for heat-clearing herbs.The most commonly paired herbs in all antipruritic formulas and in internal formulas were Fangfeng and Licorice(Gancao),while in external formulas,the most common pairing was Borneol and Calamine.The strongest association rules,in terms of confidence,were Calamine → Borneol,Rehmannia → Angelica,and Calamine → Borneol in all,internal,and external antipruritic formulas,respectively.Five core formula combinations were identified for all antipruritic formulas as well as for internal and external formulas separately...Conclusion The study revealed the prescription regularity of antipruritic formulas based on the TCM inheritance auxiliary platform,which can provide valuable clinical references for TCM practitioners and serve as a basis for the development of new Chinese medicines.