Acute lung injury (ALI) is a common clinical critical disease

due to direct or indirect injury factors. It presents as the damage of alveolar epithelial cells and capillary endothelial cells

resulting in diffuse pulmonary interstitial and alveolar edema

leading to acute hypoxemic respiratory insufficiency. There are few effective drugs for the treatment of ALI so far. Complex prescriptions of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have increasingly shown their obvious advantages and further mechanism for the treatment of ALI. In this review

we introduced some related advances on account of the mechanisms including anti-inflammation

regulating immunological function

anti-oxidation

modulating abnormal coagulation and fibrinolysis

up-regulating of gaquaporins (AQPs) and attenuating pulmonary fibrosis since recent three years. What's more

the association between therapeutic principle of TCM and modern pharmacological mechanisms is summarized

in order to provide some references and clues to the drug development for ALI.