Traditional Medicine Research doi: 10.12032/TMR20200603187 Traditional Chinese Medicine The riddles of number nine in Chinese medicine processing method Xiang-Long Meng1#, Xiao-Yan Zhang1#, Cong Hu2, Xiao-Juan Su1, Shuo-Sheng Zhang1* 1College of Chinese Materia Medica and Food Engineering, Shanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Jinzhong 030619, China; 2School of Pharmacy, Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Nanchang 330013, China. #Xiang-Long Meng and Xiao-Yan Zhang are the co-first authors of this paper. *Corresponding to: Shuo-Sheng Zhang. College of Shanxi University of Chinese Medicine, No.121 University Street, Yuci District, Jinzhong 030619, China. E-Mail:
[email protected]. Highlights This review discovers the aim and the molecular mechanism of “nine” processing of some representative Chinese medicinal materials prepared using the “nine times steaming and drying method” from the viewpoints of modern pharmacochemistry and pharmacology, to provide a theoretical support for the “nine” processing method of Chinese medicines. Tradition The “nine cycles of steaming and shining” method was first recorded in Lei Gong Pao Zhi Lun (Master Lei’s Discourse on Medicinal Processing), the earliest monograph on the science of processing in China written by the famous pharmacologist named Lei Xiao in Southern and Northern Dynasties (420−589 C.E.). It is a traditional Chinese medicine processing method and characterized by repeated steaming and shining. The primary purposes of this processing method can be summarized as follows: altering the properties of medicines, increasing the contents of effective ingredients or reducing the toxic ingredients, making the herbs digest-friendly, and conducing to the drying and preservation of medicines.