Tubiechong：A review on ethnomedicinal uses, bioactive chemical constituents and pharmacological activities.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Tubiechong comprises mainly Eupolyphaga and Steleophaga is widely distributed in China. It has been used in the traditional medicine systems in Asian countries specially in China，Japan and Singapore for thousand years.

AIM OF THE REVIEW: The aim of this work is to review the scientific work about Tubiechong regarding their ethnomedicinal uses, bioactive chemical constituents and pharmacological activities.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Relevant literature of Tubiechong was collected for its traditional uses, pharmacological activities, and bioactive compounds released from inception until May 2022. The online databases such as Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Scopus, SciFinder Scholar, Springer Link, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data, and VIP database were used as electronic search engines for articles with the various specific keywords. Additionally, references from ancient texts and local information such as PhD and MSc theses, books, and Chinese journals were also included.

RESULTS: The clinical researches have revealed that Tubiechong alone has been successfully used to treat bone disease, ache, sprain, herpes zoster, paronychia and so on. Tubichong's main clinical application is to form formulations with other herbs. The most widely used 34 kinds of Chinese patent medicine containing Tubiechong were included in Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2020 Edition) for the treatment of traumatic injury, low back pain, cardiovascular disease, tumors or mass and nodule, cervical spondylopathy, osteoarthritis and psoriasis. Its other derived formulas have been used in the clinical treatment of various diseases, such as blood stasis, hepatic cirrhosis, cyclomastopathy, chronic active hepatitis, nephropathy, gynaecopathia, cancer diseases. To date, the bioactive substances reported are limited to protein and peptides, fatty acids, polysaccharides and alkaloids from Eupolyphaga sinensis Walker. So far, the pharmacological activities of Tubiechong and its various extracts have been evaluated, including anticoagulant and antithrombotic, anticancer, bone repair, immunomodulation, analgesia, antioxidant, antihyperlipidemic, antimicrobial and protective and repair functions for damage to the liver, heart, brain and skin. As an edible insect, its safety has also been confirmed by acute toxicity tests and 30-day feeding trials.

CONCLUSION: Tubiechong is an important insect medicine with the effect of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, which has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years for the treatment of trauma and abdominal lumps, and has now been clinically extended to the treatment of a variety of diseases. Its multiple pharmacological activities indicate that it has great potential for development and application. However, its chemical constituents with pharmacological activity require further excavation and detailed study. In addition, the in-depth molecular pharmacological mechanisms deserve further explanation.