The intestinal microbiota plays a critical role in human health, making its targeted modulation a significant frontier for disease prevention and treatment. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) demonstrates considerable clinical efficacy and safety in managing chronic metabolic diseases. However, the development of innovative TCM-based therapeutics faces core bottlenecks at three key levels. First, concerning TCM raw material quality and safety, the inherent chemical complexity of TCM presents substantial challenges. Conventional analytical methods struggle to simultaneously meet requirements for cost-effectiveness, on-site applicability, and multi-dimensional component profiling. Second, the evaluation of TCM efficacy is hindered by the absence of rapid assessment methodologies. This results in protracted pharmacological research and inconsistent standards. Current practices often depend on large-scale instrumentation for disease diagnosis and utilize time-intensive techniques (e.g., Western blot, qPCR) for mechanistic studies. Third, research into the pharmacological mechanisms of TCM, particularly concerning its interactions with the intestinal microbiota, remains insufficient. Consequently, the development of innovative microbiota-targeting drugs derived from TCM is notably scarce. This report directly addresses these critical challenges. It focuses on the development and application of novel detection technologies to establish efficient monitoring platforms for bacteria, small molecules, and drug function in vitro and in vivo. By leveraging advanced methodologies—including isothermal amplification, microfluidic chip systems, microdroplet technology, plasmonic nano-sensing, and carbon dot fluorescence switching—this research provides essential technological support to overcome existing barriers and accelerate the development of innovative, microbiota-targeting TCM therapeutics.

Gut Microbiota, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanosensors, Novel Technologies, Medicinal Research