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Article: Bear bile: Dilemma of traditional medicinal use and animal protection
Title | Bear bile: Dilemma of traditional medicinal use and animal protection | ||||||||
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Authors | |||||||||
Issue Date | 2009 | ||||||||
Publisher | BioMed Central Ltd. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.ethnobiomed.com/ | ||||||||
Citation | Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 2009, v. 5, article no. 2 How to Cite? | ||||||||
Abstract | Bear bile has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for thousands of years. Modern investigations showed that it has a wide range of pharmacological actions with little toxicological side effect and the pure compounds have been used for curing hepatic and biliary disorders for decades. However, extensive consumption of bear bile made bears endangered species. In the 1980's, bear farming was established in China to extract bear bile from living bears with "Free-dripping Fistula Technique". Bear farming is extremely inhumane and many bears died of illness such as chronic infections and liver cancer. Efforts are now given by non-governmental organizations, mass media and Chinese government to end bear farming ultimately. At the same time, systematic research has to be done to find an alternative for bear bile. In this review, we focused on the literature, laboratory and clinical results related to bear bile and its substitutes or alternative in English and Chinese databases. We examined the substitutes or alternative of bear bile from three aspects: Pure compounds derived from bear bile, biles from other animals and herbs from TCM. We then discussed the strategy for stopping the trading of bear bile and issues of bear bile related to potential alternative candidates, existing problems in alternative research and work to be done in the future. © 2009 Feng et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. | ||||||||
Persistent Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/58223 | ||||||||
ISSN | 2023 Impact Factor: 2.9 2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 0.694 | ||||||||
PubMed Central ID | |||||||||
ISI Accession Number ID |
Funding Information: The study was financially supported by grants from the research council of the University of Hong Kong (Project Codes: 10206540 and 10208005), The University Grant Committee (UGC) of Hong Kong (Project Code: 764708M) and UGC-Matching Grant Scheme (4th Phase, Project Code: 20740314). Especially, the authors are grateful to Mr. Frank Pong Fai and his family for the donation which enables our research on this project (Pong Ding Yueng Endowment Fund for Education & Research in Chinese-Western Medicine, Project Code: 20005274). | ||||||||
References |
DC Field | Value | Language |
---|---|---|
dc.contributor.author | Feng, Y | en_HK |
dc.contributor.author | Siu, K | en_HK |
dc.contributor.author | Wang, N | en_HK |
dc.contributor.author | Ng, KM | en_HK |
dc.contributor.author | Tsao, SW | en_HK |
dc.contributor.author | Nagamatsu, T | en_HK |
dc.contributor.author | Tong, Y | en_HK |
dc.date.accessioned | 2010-05-31T03:26:07Z | - |
dc.date.available | 2010-05-31T03:26:07Z | - |
dc.date.issued | 2009 | en_HK |
dc.identifier.citation | Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 2009, v. 5, article no. 2 | en_HK |
dc.identifier.issn | 1746-4269 | en_HK |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/58223 | - |
dc.description.abstract | Bear bile has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for thousands of years. Modern investigations showed that it has a wide range of pharmacological actions with little toxicological side effect and the pure compounds have been used for curing hepatic and biliary disorders for decades. However, extensive consumption of bear bile made bears endangered species. In the 1980's, bear farming was established in China to extract bear bile from living bears with "Free-dripping Fistula Technique". Bear farming is extremely inhumane and many bears died of illness such as chronic infections and liver cancer. Efforts are now given by non-governmental organizations, mass media and Chinese government to end bear farming ultimately. At the same time, systematic research has to be done to find an alternative for bear bile. In this review, we focused on the literature, laboratory and clinical results related to bear bile and its substitutes or alternative in English and Chinese databases. We examined the substitutes or alternative of bear bile from three aspects: Pure compounds derived from bear bile, biles from other animals and herbs from TCM. We then discussed the strategy for stopping the trading of bear bile and issues of bear bile related to potential alternative candidates, existing problems in alternative research and work to be done in the future. © 2009 Feng et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. | en_HK |
dc.language | eng | en_HK |
dc.publisher | BioMed Central Ltd. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.ethnobiomed.com/ | en_HK |
dc.relation.ispartof | Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine | en_HK |
dc.rights | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. | - |
dc.subject.mesh | Bile - chemistry | - |
dc.subject.mesh | Cholagogues and Choleretics - pharmacology - therapeutic use | - |
dc.subject.mesh | Gallbladder | - |
dc.subject.mesh | Medicine, Chinese Traditional | - |
dc.subject.mesh | Organotherapy | - |
dc.title | Bear bile: Dilemma of traditional medicinal use and animal protection | en_HK |
dc.type | Article | en_HK |
dc.identifier.email | Feng, Y: yfeng@hku.hk | en_HK |
dc.identifier.email | Ng, KM: kwanmng@hku.hk | en_HK |
dc.identifier.email | Tsao, SW: gswtsao@hku.hk | en_HK |
dc.identifier.email | Tong, Y: tongyao@hku.hk | en_HK |
dc.identifier.authority | Feng, Y=rp00466 | en_HK |
dc.identifier.authority | Ng, KM=rp00766 | en_HK |
dc.identifier.authority | Tsao, SW=rp00399 | en_HK |
dc.identifier.authority | Tong, Y=rp00509 | en_HK |
dc.description.nature | published_or_final_version | - |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1186/1746-4269-5-2 | en_HK |
dc.identifier.pmid | 19138420 | - |
dc.identifier.pmcid | PMC2630947 | - |
dc.identifier.scopus | eid_2-s2.0-59349089518 | en_HK |
dc.identifier.hkuros | 155595 | en_HK |
dc.relation.references | http://www.scopus.com/mlt/select.url?eid=2-s2.0-59349089518&selection=ref&src=s&origin=recordpage | en_HK |
dc.identifier.volume | 5 | en_HK |
dc.identifier.spage | article no. 2 | - |
dc.identifier.epage | article no. 2 | - |
dc.identifier.isi | WOS:000207918700002 | - |
dc.publisher.place | United Kingdom | en_HK |
dc.identifier.scopusauthorid | Feng, Y=24467969600 | en_HK |
dc.identifier.scopusauthorid | Siu, K=26026052800 | en_HK |
dc.identifier.scopusauthorid | Wang, N=35072317700 | en_HK |
dc.identifier.scopusauthorid | Ng, KM=26026091100 | en_HK |
dc.identifier.scopusauthorid | Tsao, SW=7102813116 | en_HK |
dc.identifier.scopusauthorid | Nagamatsu, T=7006510058 | en_HK |
dc.identifier.scopusauthorid | Tong, Y=9045384000 | en_HK |
dc.identifier.citeulike | 3903508 | - |
dc.identifier.issnl | 1746-4269 | - |