Abstract
Since Kampo medicines are orally administered in general, their constituents are metabolized by anaerobic bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. In particular, glycosides are hardly absorbed in the upper intestine and are transported to the lower intestine, where some of them are metabolized to medicinally active compounds.
In this review, we focus on the current topics including transformation of anthraquinones into ultimate purgative substances and cleavage of C- and O-glycosides. Finally, we show a list of the significant studies on the bacterial transformation of constituents of Kampo medicines, which were mostly carried out in our laboratory.
