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Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is a senile brain lesion caused by the abnormal structure and function of arterioles, venules and capillaries in the aging brain. The etiology of CSVD is complex, and disease is often asymptomatic in its early stages. However, as CSVD develops, brain disorders may occur, such as stroke, cognitive dysfunction, dyskinesia and mood disorders, and heart, kidney, eye and systemic disorders. As the population continues to age, the burden of CSVD is increasing. Moreover, there is an urgent need for better screening methods and diagnostic markers for CSVD, in addition to preventive and asymptomatic- and mild-stage treatments. Integrative medicine (IM), which combines the holistic concepts and syndrome differentiations of Chinese medicine with modern medical perspectives, has unique advantages for the prevention and treatment of CSVD. In this review, we summarize the biological markers, ultrasound and imaging features, disease-related genes and risk factors relevant to CSVD diagnosis and screening. Furthermore, we discuss IM-based CSVD prevention and treatment strategies to stimulate further research in this field.

Additional file 1: Figure S1. Sequence alignment of Tet(X) variants by ESPript version 3.0. Figure S2. Structural characteristics of Tet(X5)-like proteins. Figure S3. Resistance rates of the tet(X)-positive Acinetobacter spp. strains against 11 antibiotics. Figure S4. Comparative analysis of the tet(X)-carrying structures. Figure S5. Hypothesized evolution model of tet(X) genes. Table S1. Primers used in this study. Table S2. Prevalence of tet(X) genes in Acinetobacter spp. strains by origin. Table S3. MICs of tetracyclines for the studied strains.