As the pandemic of COVID-19 spreads far and wide around the globe, the world helter-skelter, there is no ready vaccines cater for immediate needs. TCM may be an alternative.
TCM evolves about thousands years through many trials
and errors to refine its cure. In the midst, it went through many epidemics,
learning to diagnose and treatment of epidemics the hard ways. With the
modernization of medical equipment impinges on our understanding at micro level
the chemical components of Chinese herbs, giving TCM’s diagnosis and treatment
leaps and bounds improvements.
The following is an extract from March issues of “The
Economist” how COVID-19 virus functions:
A SARS-COV-2 virus particle, known technically as a virion, is about 90 nanometres (billionths of a metre) across-around a millionth the volume of the sort of cells it infects in the human lung. It contains four different proteins and a strand of RNA-a molecule which, like DNA, can store genetic information as a sequence of chemical letters called nucleotides. In this case, that information includes how to make all the other proteins that the virus needs in order to make copies of itself, but which it does not carry along from cell to cell.
The outer proteins sit athwart a membrane provided by the cell in which the virion was created. This membrane, made of lipids, breaks up when it encounters soap and water, which is why hand-washing is such a valuable barrier to infection.
The most prominent protein, the one which gives the virions their crown- or mine-like appearance by standing proud of the membrane, is called spike. Two other proteins, envelope protein and membrane protein, sit in the membrane between these spikes, providing structural integrity. Inside the membrane a fourth protein, nucleocapsid, acts as a scaffold around which the virus wraps the 29, 900 nucleotides of RNA which make up its genome.
Though they store their genes in DNA, living cells use RNA for a range of other activities, such as taking the instructions written in the cell's genome to the machinery which turns those instructions into proteins. Various sorts of virus, though, store their genes on RNA. Viruses like HIV, which causes AIDS, make DNA copies of their RNA genome once they get into a cell. This allows them to get into the nucleus and stay around for years. Coronaviruses take a simpler approach. Their RNA is formatted to look like the messenger RNA which tells cells what proteins to make. As soon as that RNA gets into the cell, flummoxed protein-making machinery starts reading the viral genes and making the proteins they describe.
First contact between a virion and a cell is made by the spike protein. There is a region on this protein that fits hand-in-glove with ACE2, a protein found on the surface of some human cells, particularly those in the respiratory tract.
ACE2 has a role in controlling blood pressure, and preliminary data from a hospital in Wuhan suggest that high blood pressure increases the risks of someone who has contracted the illness dying of it (so do diabetes and heart disease). Whether this has anything to do with the fact that the virus's entry point is linked to blood pressure regulation remains to be seen.
Once a virion has attached itself to an ACE2 molecule, it bends a second protein on the exterior of the cell to its will. This is TMPRSS2, a protease. Proteases exist to cleave other proteins asunder, and the virus depends on TMPRSS2 obligingly cutting open the spike protein, exposing a stump called a fusion peptide. This lets the virion into the cell, where it is soon able to open up and release its RNA.
Coronaviruses have genomes bigger than those seen in any other RNA viruses -about three times longer than HIV'S, twice as long as the influenza virus’s and half as long again as the Ebola virus's. At one end are the genes for the four structural proteins and eight genes for small "accessory" proteins that seem to inhibit the host's defences. Together these account for just a third of the genome. The rest is the province of a complex gene called replicase. Cells have no interest in making RNA copies of RNA molecules, and so they have no machinery for the task that the virus can hijack. This means the virus has to bring the genes with which to make its own. The replicase gene creates two big "polyproteins" that cut themselves up into 15, or just possibly 16, short "nonstructural proteins" (NSPS). These make up the machinery for copying and proofreading the genome-though some of them may have other roles, too.
Once the cell is making both structural proteins and RNA, it is time to start churning out new virions. Some of the RNA molecules get wrapped up with copies of the nucleocapsid proteins. They are then provided with bits of membrane which are rich in the three outer proteins. The envelope and membrane proteins play a large role in this assembly process, which takes place in a cellular workshop called the Golgi apparatus. A cell may make between 100 and 1,000 virions in this way, according to Stanley Perlman of the University of Iowa. Most of them are capable of taking over a new cell--either nearby or in another body--and starting the process off again.
Not all the RNA that has been created ends up packed into virions; leftovers escape into wider circulation. The coronavirus tests now in use pick up and amplify SARS-COV-2-speciflc RNA sequences found in the sputum of infected patients.
The holy grail of western medicine is to develop targeted
vaccine specifically for the virus. TCM evolves through trial and error to
accumulate knowledge through experiential refining practices. Not until recent
decades TCM makes use of the developments of medical equipment and through
laboratory examination, discovers the chemical components of the herbs to
substantiate the reasoning why some ancient prescriptions prevail for thousands
of years and still effective.
Underlying the usage of Chinese herbs is the core of
TCM theory which is epistemological between human and environment. Unlike their
Western counterpart builds their theory based on existing science. TCM is
philosophical and experiential like the ancient Greek medicine；Western Medicine leap to a bigger stride after 19th
century and coupled with the technological innovation in 20th century
carry it much further. The fundamental of its outlook is micro oriented whereas
TCM sees disease and human body as a whole but lacks the nitty-gritty.
After years of research, many of the chemical
components of the herbs become known to us that why certain herbs or combination
of them are efficacy for some diseases, such as scorpion which TCM often uses, has
the effects of relieving spasm, alleviate pain; according to Wikipedia, Short-chain
scorpion toxins constitute the largest group of potassium (K+) channel-blocking
peptides. An important physiological role of the KCNA3 channel, also known as
KV1.3, is to help maintain large electrical gradients for the sustained
transport of ions such as Ca2+ that controls T lymphocyte (T cell)
proliferation. Thus KV1.3 blockers could be potential immunosuppressant for the
treatment of autoimmune disorders (such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory
bowel disease, and multiple sclerosis).
My prescription is based on Zhang Zhong jing (张仲景) born around AC 150, he went through numerous epidemics during his time. His book Shang han lun (伤寒论) is sacred for studying TCM theory. More than a thousand year later, his prescriptions in the book are still widely used in today’s TCM clinical practices. My prescription is based on his prescription of MA Xin Shi Gan Tang (麻杏石甘汤) ， commonly used for heated pneumonia cough and asthma. I vary the line of prescription to take into accounts of the symptoms of COVID-19, and adding herbs to strengthen the immune system fight against the virus. Hopefully someone will find it useful.
麻黄3 钱（Ephedra） 枇杷叶3钱 (loquat leaf） 南沙参 3钱（Fourleaf ladybell root） 重楼5 钱 （Paris root）五爪龙5 钱 (Ipomoea cairica (L.) Sweet) 生石膏1两（Gypsum ）， 光杏仁3 钱 (Bitter apricot seed) ，全蝎2 钱（Scorpion） 地龙3 钱(Earthworm) 杭白芍 3 钱(Debark peony root) 金蝉蜕 3 钱(Cicada slough) 太子参 3 钱 (Heterophylly falsestarwort root)僵蚕 3 钱 (Stiff silkworm)金莲花 3 钱(Trollius chinensis ) 漂白术 3钱 （Largehead atractylodes rhizome.）甘草 1 钱 (Liquorice root).
You need a pot (pottery type) specifically for
brewing the herbs; pour four bowls of water to specially brewed生石膏 for thirty minutes using small flame, then add in the
rest, add water just cover the top of the herbs, and use big
flame till it boiled, and switch to small flame again for another twenty
minutes, you should get a bowl of brewed herbs. A pack can be brewed three
times just to get your money worth.
Reference：The Economist 12 march 2012 issue
