地球上现存的动物有150万种,被利用过的药用动物仅2000种左右,其中不少疗效显著,为临床所喜用,如牛黄、麝香、蟾酥等。近十五年来对动物药活性成分的研究有了迅速的发展,具体表现在:1.发掘了一批疗效显著的物质。例如从蟾酥中分出20余种蟾毒配基,其中脂蟾毒配基(resibufogenin)兼有升压、强心、兴奋呼吸等作用,已用于呼吸循环衰竭和失血性低血压休克。从胆汁中发现的胆甾酸不下百种,其中鹅去氧胆酸(chenodeoxycholic acid),熊去氧胆酸(urodeoxycholic acid)有溶解胆石作用, There are 1.5 million species of animals on the earth, and only about 2000 kinds of medicinal animals have been used. Many of them have significant curative effects and are clinically favored, such as bezoar, musk, osmanthus and so on. In the past fifteen years, the research on the active ingredients of animal medicines has developed rapidly. The concrete manifestations are as follows: 1. Discovered a group of substances with significant effects. For example, more than 20 kinds of scorpion venom ligands are distributed from lycopene, in which resibufogenin has the functions of increasing pressure, stimulating heart, and excitatory breathing, and has been used for respiratory and circulatory failure and hemorrhagic hypotension shock. There are no less than 100 kinds of cholic acid found in bile, including chenodeoxycholic acid and urodeoxycholic acid which can dissolve gallstones.