Research on the Pharmacology and Toxicity of Rhubarb Anthraquinones in the Body

Rhubarb, as an important traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with a long history, has core active ingredients known as anthraquinone compounds (such as aloe-emodin, rhein, chrysophanol, etc.). These have been confirmed to possess broad biological activities, exerting significant regulatory effects in multiple key systems of the human body, including the digestive, hepatic, renal, and cardiovascular systems. However, clinical precision medication strategies and long-term safety assessments under different preparation forms and individual variability backgrounds still require more substantial data support. This paper systematically summarizes the chemical basis, in vivo pharmacokinetic characteristics, and core pharmacological mechanisms of rhubarb anthraquinones in the digestive, hepatic, renal, and cardiovascular systems. It concurrently evaluates their clinical application efficacy in related indications like constipation and hepatobiliary diseases, alongside potential adverse reaction risks. The review results clearly elucidate the intrinsic relationship between the "structure-metabolism-activity/toxicity" of rhubarb anthraquinones, providing crucial theoretical support for precise and rational clinical medication. The integrated pharmacological and toxicological evidence in this study lays a scientific foundation for the subsequent development of highly effective and low-toxicity rhubarb-derived drugs. Future research needs to focus on in-depth analysis of the pharmacodynamic material basis of anthraquinone monomers, deep exploration of structural modifications of anthraquinones, and the construction of long-term toxicity prediction models based on metabolomics, to promote the high-quality development and international application of rhubarb resources within the modern TCM system.