[Research progress in acupoint administration of new dosage forms of traditional Chinese medicine preparations for rheumatoid arthritis].

The conventional acupoint therapy for rheumatoid arthritis often uses traditional Chinese medicine preparations in the dosage forms of powder, ointment, and paste. However, these dosage forms have obvious drawbacks, such as low transdermal absorption, strong skin irritation, and easy detachment. Creating a traditional Chinese medicine acupoint therapy characterized by high penetration, low toxicity, low irritation, and convenient administration is of great significance. With the development of new technology for modern traditional Chinese medicine preparations, modern dosage forms such as microemulsion, microparticle, hydrogel, and liposome are combined with acupoint administration, and the derived therapeutic methods include acupoint application, acupoint injection, microneedle, and nanoporous acupuncture needle. The combination of new dosage forms of traditional Chinese medicine preparations and acupoint administration has the advantages of high drug permeability, high retention, and the formation of drug acupoint storage. The accumulation of drugs in acupoints continuously amplifies the acupoint effect, achieving a synergistic effect of drug treatment and acupoint treatment(1+1>2). This article reviews the relevant research and improvement of new dosage forms of traditional Chinese medicine preparations combined with acupoint administration for the treatment of RA, providing new development ideas for the combination of traditional Chinese medicine acupoint therapy and modern new formulation technologies.