Table 4.

Novel drug delivery systems for Chinese medicine applications

Route of administration type	Route of administration characteristics	References
New nanotechnology	Highly effective in increasing the solubility and dissolution rate of insoluble drugs Reduced volume of drug delivery, reduced toxic effects Nanomedicines can also impart new properties to drugs to improve bioavailability and clinical efficacy	[173, 174]
Regulation of intestinal flora	Regulates the metabolism of the intestinal flora by modulating the composition of the intestinal flora and/or by regulating the activity of the enzymes that catalyse the production of metabolites This in turn leads to an increase or decrease in the content of certain metabolites, as well as the production of new metabolites or the disappearance of certain metabolites	[175]
Microenvironmental regulation methods	Provide new capabilities for various therapies by improving the stability of drugs in physiological fluids, controlling drug‒drug interactions in individual cells, and altering drug-target interactions Drug modifications have been able to address the changing structural complexity, specificity and function of various formulations and are now being used in the further development of cellular therapies	[176, 177]