The Application of Coral in Traditional Medicine and Its Chemical Composition, Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Clinical Research

This reviews the variety, chemical composition, pharmacological effects, toxicology, and clinical research of coral used in traditional medicine in the past two decades. At present, there are 56 formulas such as traditional Chinese medicine, Tibetan medicine, Mongolian medicine, and Uyghur medicine. 34 families and 99 genera of corals are involved in medical research, with the Alcyconiidae family and Sarcophyton genus being the main research object. The compounds extrate from coral includ terpenoids, steroids, nitrogen-containing compounds and others. The biological activities of coral include cytotoxicity, anti-inflammatory and analgesic, antibacterial, antiviral, immunosuppressive, antioxidant, neurological, and other aspects, and a detailed summary of its related mechanisms or target targets is provided. Coral toxicity mostly occurs in the marine ornamental soft coral Zoanthidae genus, with Palytoxin as the main toxic component. At the same time, non peptide neurotoxins are extracted from aquatic corals. The compatibility of coral related preparations did not show significant acute toxicity, but if used for a long time, it will still cause toxicity to the liver, kidneys, lungs and others in a dose-dependent manner. In clinical applications, individual application of coral is often used as a substitute for orthopedic materials to treat bone diseases. Secondly, it mainly appears in the form of compound preparations which contain coral, such as Ershiwuwei Shanhu Pills, which are widely used in neurological diseases such as migraine, epilepsy. This article is expected to provide some reference for the research of coral chemical composition, biological activity, chemical ecology and the discovery of marine drug lead compound.