Research progress on the ideas and methods of traditional Chinese medicine database construction

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) databases provide a crucial platform for deepening TCM theory, exploring the relationship between disease and syndrome, revealing compatibility mechanism, and developing component-based Chinese medicine. The construction of TCM databases is centered around the multi-level "syndrome-formula-herb-component-target-pathway-function-disease" network. With the advancement of computer science and high-throughput experimental technologies, there is a growing trend of integration with artificial intelligence and multi-omics strategies. This paper reviews the current state of TCM databases, and summarizes the research progress from three aspects of data collection, data analysis, and network visualization. It systematically discusses the strategies and methods for building TCM databases. Additionally, it also reveals the challenges faced by the current TCM databases, and puts forward the future exploration direction and potential development trend, aiming at providing technical support for the construction of subsequent related databases and offering insights for research in related fields.