Abstract: Cepharanthine is an alkaloid isolated from the rhizomes of plants such as Stephania japonica and Stephania epigaea in the genus Stephania of the family Menispermaceae. This compound has a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities and shows great potential for application and development in the field of human medicine and veterinary medicine. With the core pharmacological effects of anti-inflammation, anti-virus, anti-parasite and immune regulation, cepharanthine can effectively address the current problems of frequent viral diseases, prominent parasite resistance and low immunity of livestock and poultry in the animal husbandry and veterinary industry. It is an alternative drug with great development value. However, cepharanthine exhibits poor water solubility and low oral absorption efficiency, and has obvious low in vivo bioavailability, which seriously restricts its clinical translation and large-scale application. In order to overcome the shortcomings of the above formulations, a variety of new drug delivery systems such as suspensions, pellets, microemulsions and nanoemulsions have been gradually applied to the optimization and development of cepharanthine formulations. This paper systematically discusses the core pharmacological activities and mechanisms of action of cepharanthine, sorts out its research value and application prospect in related fields, and summarizes the technical strategies of its formulation optimization, aiming to provide scientific reference and theoretical insights for the scientific research promotion and clinical application of cepharanthine in veterinary fields such as animal disease prevention and control and livestock and poultry health breeding.

Key words: cepharanthine, pharmacological functions, formulation development