Wang, Kun, Shen, Mengmeng, Tang, Hongguang et al. · Journal of ethnopharmacology · 2025 · DOI
Researchers tested a traditional Chinese medicine called Jingfang Granule (JFG) in mice with chronic fatigue syndrome. The treatment improved fatigue symptoms, helped mice recover weight and exercise capacity, and reduced harmful inflammation and oxidative stress in their bodies. The medicine appeared to work by boosting how efficiently cells produce energy through a key metabolic pathway.
This research identifies a potential therapeutic mechanism for energy production dysfunction in CFS—a leading hypothesis in the field. By demonstrating that enhancing the TCA cycle reduces both inflammation and fatigue symptoms in an animal model, it provides biological plausibility for metabolic intervention and suggests a testable mechanism that could guide future clinical trials in human ME/CFS patients.
This study does not prove that JFG or TCA cycle enhancement will work in human ME/CFS patients; animal models do not always translate to clinical benefit. It does not establish causation in humans or rule out that improvements resulted from placebo effects or non-specific stress reduction. The study is mechanistic only and cannot yet guide clinical practice decisions.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Wang, Kun, Shen, Mengmeng, Tang, Hongguang, Zhou, Jidong, Liu, Yan, Niu, Dejun, et al. (2025). Jingfang Granule promotes the tricarboxylic acid cycle to improve chronic fatigue syndrome by increasing the expression of Idh1 and Idh2.. Journal of ethnopharmacology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2024.119241
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-wang-2025-jingfang-granule,
author = {Wang, Kun and Shen, Mengmeng and Tang, Hongguang and Zhou, Jidong and Liu, Yan and Niu, Dejun and Zeng, Zhen and Pan, Lihong and Yao, Jingchun and Sun, Chenghong},
title = {Jingfang Granule promotes the tricarboxylic acid cycle to improve chronic fatigue syndrome by increasing the expression of Idh1 and Idh2.},
journal = {Journal of ethnopharmacology},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1016/j.jep.2024.119241},
note = {PubMed: 39689747},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/wang-2025-jingfang-granule},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/wang-2025-jingfang-granule
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