Pistacia lentiscus,which belongs to foreign medicine resources,is widely distributed in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern area. The essential oils are a mixture of several volatile compounds mainly monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes obtained from different parts of P. lentiscus by hydrodistillation. The variability of chemical composition,biological activities and content of essential oil is strongly affected by extraction technology,environmental and sex factors. It is indicated that essential oils of P. lentiscus have kinds of biological activities such as antibacterial,anticancer,anti-atherogenesis,antioxidant,anti-inflammatory and insecticidal activities.Many scholars hold the opinion that combination of different components with synergistic and/or additive actions should account for their biological activities. Due to its diverse efficacy and special taste,the essential oil of P. lentiscus has been extensively used in medicine,food and cosmetics industries. A mini review of chemical constituents and biological activities of essential oil of P. lentiscus in the past20 years is made here to provide valuable reference for the construction of " the Belt and Road".
Monoterpenes ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Oils, Volatile ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Pistacia ; chemistry ; Plant Oils ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Sesquiterpenes ; chemistry ; pharmacology

Perilla frutescens is a widely used medicinal and edible plant with a rich chemical composition throughout its whole plant. The Chinese Pharmacopoeia categorizes P. frutescens leaves(Perillae Folium), seeds(Perillae Fructus), and stems(Perillae Caulis) as three distinct medicinal parts due to the differences in types and content of active components. Over 350 different bioactive compounds have been reported so far, including volatile oils, flavonoids, phenolic acids, triterpenes, sterols, and fatty acids. Due to the complexity of its chemical composition, P. frutescens exhibits diverse pharmacological effects, including antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, antidepressant, and antitumor activities. While scholars have conducted a substantial amount of research on different parts of P. frutescens, including analysis of their chemical components and pharmacological mechanisms of action, there has yet to be a systematic comparison and summary of chemical components, pharmacological effects, and mechanisms of action. Therefore, this study overviewed the chemical composition and structures of Perillae Folium, Perillae Fructus, and Perillae Caulis, and summarized the pharmacological effects and mechanisms of P. frutescens to provide a reference for better development and utilization of this valuable plant.
Perilla frutescens/chemistry* ; Plant Extracts/pharmacology* ; Seeds/chemistry* ; Fruit/chemistry* ; Oils, Volatile/analysis* ; Plant Leaves/chemistry*

Agarwood is a traditional and precious medicinal material and natural spice in China and other southeast Asian countries.As the head of all spices,agarwood has many pharmacological activities such as analgesia,antidiarrheal,anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects. Due to its high price and scarce resources,there were just a few previous studies on it,mainly focusing on the chemical compositions of the agarwood essential oil and solvent extract mixture. The components of agarwood oils obtained by supercritical extraction and steam distillation were analyzed by using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer( GC-MS),and then the agarwood oils compositions and contents were compared between the traditional extraction method and the recently emerging supercritical extraction method. Antioxidant experiments of scavenging DPPH,ABTS,hydroxyl radical,total reducing power and MIC experiments of five kinds of tester strains such as staphylococcus aureus were combined to illustrate the differences between these two kinds of agarwood oils in terms of antioxidant and bacteriostatic activities. The results showed that the main components of agarwood oil were sesquiterpenoids( 68. 68%) in steam distillation extraction method,but sesquiterpenoids( 23. 78%) and chromones( 29. 42%) in supercritical extraction method. Fourteen common components included benzyl acetone,α-santalol,γ-eudesmol,agarospirol and guaiol etc. The antioxidant activity and inhibitory MIC of agarwood oils in supercritical extraction method were better than those in steam distillation method,and the inhibitory effect of agarwood oil on the growth of bacillus subtilis was found for the first time.
Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology* ; Antioxidants/pharmacology* ; China ; Distillation/methods* ; Oils, Volatile/pharmacology* ; Plant Oils/pharmacology* ; Steam ; Thymelaeaceae/chemistry* ; Wood/chemistry*

OBJECTIVETo analyze the chemical components of the essential oil extracted from the bark of Ficus tsiangii.

METHODThe essential oil was extracted by water-steam distillation and separated by GC capillary column chromatography. The components were quantitatively determined with normalization method and identified by GC-MS; Oxidation levels were used to study the antioxidation of the essential oil. Born turbidimetric method was applied to study the action of the the essential oil on rabbit platelet aggregation in vitro.

RESULTThe oil rate of Ficus tsiangii was 0.097%. 198 chromatographic peaks were detected and 57 compounds were identified, which were composed of 72.06% of the total essential oil. The highest ingredients in essential oil were fatty acids. The essential oil had no antioxidation and a weak inhibitory effect of the ADP-induced platelet aggregation.

CONCLUSIONThe chemical and biological data of the essential oil were reported for the first time.

Animals ; Ficus ; chemistry ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Oils, Volatile ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Plant Oils ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Platelet Aggregation ; drug effects ; Rabbits

In this review, the phytochemistry and pharmacology of two ornamental gingers, Hedychium coronarium (butterfly ginger) and Alpinia purpurata (red ginger), are updated, and their botany and uses are described. Flowers of H. coronarium are large, showy, white, yellow or white with a yellow centre and highly fragrant. Inflorescences of A. purpurata are erect spikes with attractive red or pink bracts. Phytochemical investigations on the rhizomes of H. coronarium generated research interest globally. This resulted in the isolation of 53 labdane-type diterpenes, with little work done on the leaves and flowers. Pharmacological properties of H. coronarium included antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, cytotoxic, chemopreventive, anti-allergic, larvicidal, anthelminthic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-urolithiatic, anti-angiogenic, neuro-pharmacological, fibrinogenolytic, coagulant and hepatoprotective activities. On the contrary, little is known on the phytochemistry of A. purpurata with pharmacological properties of antioxidant, antibacterial, larvicidal, cytotoxic and vasodilator activities reported in the leaves and rhizomes. There is much disparity in terms of research effort within and between these two ornamental gingers.
Alpinia ; chemistry ; Ginger ; chemistry ; Oils, Volatile ; analysis ; pharmacology ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology ; Zingiberaceae ; chemistry

A commonly used Chinese crude drug Allii Macrostemonis Bulbus has been shown to possess good anticancer activities and related properties such as antioxidation, nitrite scavenging, nitrosamine synthesis blocking and immune enhancement, and has been widely used as an effective auxiliary drug in the treatment of some malignant tumors. This paper systematically reviews the advances in the study of anticancer-related activities of Allii Macrostemonis Bulbus's various components such as raw juice, extracts, saponins, volatile oil, polysaccharides, nitrogen compounds, etc.
Allium ; chemistry ; Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; pharmacology ; Antioxidants ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Oils, Volatile ; pharmacology ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo isolate and analyse the chemical composition in the essential oils and free radical scavenging activity of different crude extracts from the fresh and dry leaves of vegetable plants of Lactuca sativa L. (L. sativa).

METHODSThe essential oils and volatile chemical constituents were isolated from the fresh and dry leaves of L. sativa (lettuce) grown in Sultanate of Oman by hydro distillation method. The antioxidant activity of the crude extracts was carried out by well established free radical scavenging activity (DPPH) method.

RESULTSAbout 20 chemical compounds of different concentration representing 83.07% and 79.88% respectively were isolated and identified by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy in the essential oils isolated from the fresh and dry leaves as α-pinene (5.11% and 4.05%), γ-cymene (2.07% and 1.92%), thymol (11.55% and 10.73%), durenol (52.00% and 49.79%), α-terpinene (1.66% and 1.34%), thymol acetate (0.99% and 0.67%), caryophyllene (2.11% and 1.98%), spathulenol (3.09% and 2.98%), camphene (4.11% and 3.65%), limonene (1.28% and 1.11%) representing these major chemical compounds. However, some other minor chemical constituents were also isolated and identified from the essential oil of lettuce including β-pinene, α-terpinolene, linalool, 4-terpineol, α-terpineol, o-methylthymol, L-alloaromadendrene and viridiflorene.

CONCLUSIONSThe chemical constituents in the essential oils from the locally grown lettuce were identified in the following classes or groups of chemical compounds such as monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes volatile organic compounds and their oxygenated hydrocarbons. Therefore, the essential oils and the crude extracts from Omani vegetable species of lettuce are active candidates which would be used as antioxidant, antifungal or antimicrobial agents in new drugs preparation for therapy of infectious diseases.

Antioxidants ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Free Radical Scavengers ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Humans ; Lettuce ; chemistry ; Oils, Volatile ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry

The volatile oil is the main component in the leaves of Perilla frutescens. According to the main types of monoterpenoids or aromatic compounds, it can be divided into different chemotypes and the main chemotypes of Chinese producing Perilla are PA type (mainly containing Perilla aldehyde and limonene), PK type (mainly containing perillaketone) and PP type (subdivided as PP-a type, with apiole as its main component; PP-m type, with myristicin as its main component; PP-e type, with elemicin as main component; PP-as type, with asarone as main component). Based on the biosynthetic pathways analysis, we also found that the formation of the particular chemotype is usually controlled by a single gene or a few genes, and different types have different pharmacological effects. In this paper, the classification under the species P. frutescens, main chemotypes of the volatile oil, and their biogenesis and regulation, pharmacological effect and influence factors are summarized and reviewed.
Animals ; Humans ; Oils, Volatile ; analysis ; pharmacology ; toxicity ; Perilla frutescens ; chemistry ; classification ; metabolism ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry

This experiment was undertaken to screen the acaricidal effects of herb essential oils (pennyroyal, ylang ylang, citronella, lemon grass, tea tree, and rosemary) at different doses (0.1, 0.05, 0.025, 0.0125, and 0.00625 microliter/cm2) and exposure times (5, 10, 20, 20, 30 and 60 min) on house dust mites Dermatophgoides farinae and D. pteronyssinus. The most effective acaricidal components of pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) were analyzed using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). Of these essential oils, the most effective was pennyroyal, which is composed essentially of pulegone (> 99%), at a dose of 0.025 microliter/cm2, which at an exposure time of 5 min killed more than 98% of house dust mites. In the pennyroyal fumigation test, the closed method was more effective than the open method and maximum acaricidal effect was 100% at 0.025 microliter/cm2, 60 min. The results show that herb essential oils, in particular, pennyroyal was proved to have potent acaricidal activity
Time Factors ; Plant Oils/chemistry/*pharmacology ; Oils, Volatile/chemistry/*pharmacology ; Mentha pulegium/*chemistry ; Insecticides/pharmacology ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus/*drug effects ; Dermatophagoides farinae/*drug effects ; Animals

To investigate the effect of resolution components, such as Açaí oil, alcohol extract and water extract, on the temperature tendency animal behavior and intrinsic biochemical indexes, such ascyclic nucleotides and metabolic level, in mice with deficiency-heat and deficiency-cold syndrome, in order to study the characteristics of the cold and heat properties of each resolution component of Açaí and the material basis of cooling. KM mice were randomly divided into 12 groups, namely blank group, deficiency-heat model group, deficiency-heat+Açaí group, deficiency-heat+Açaí oil group, deficiency-heat+Açaí alcohol extract group, deficiency-heat+Açaí water extract group, deficiency-cold model group, deficiency-cold+Cinnamomi Cortex group, deficiency-cold+Açaí group, deficiency-cold+Açaí oil group, deficiency-cold+Açaí alcohol extract group, deficiency-cold+Açaí water extract group. The mice in deficiency-heat group were given thyroid tablet solution(160 mg·kg~(-1)), the mice in deficiency-cold group were given hydrocortisone solution(25 mg·kg~(-1)) through gastric perfusion every afternoon for 14 days, and each administration group was given the corresponding drug. The temperature tendency, cyclic nucleotides and metabolic level of animals were measured after the experiment. The Açaí alcohol extract was consistent with the Açaí powder, with a regulatory effect on the deficiency-heat model mice; Açaí oil and its water extract were consistent with Cinnamomi Cortex, with a regulatory effect on the deficiency-cold model mice. In this study, based on the parable theory of traditional Chinese medicine's properties and tastes, property of alcohol extract of Açaí was cool, while the property of oil and water extract were warm, the alcohol extract of Açaí was the material basis of Açaí cold medicine by the methods of homogeneous comparison and heterogeneous disproval.
Animals ; Ethanol ; Euterpe/chemistry* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Mice ; Plant Extracts/pharmacology* ; Plant Oils/pharmacology* ; Random Allocation ; Temperature ; Water