Anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive activity of an essential oil recipe consisting of the supercritical fluid CO2 extract of white pepper, long pepper, cinnamon, saffron and myrrh in vivo.

This study was designed to investigate the anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities of essential oil recipe (OR) in rodents. The anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated by inflammatory models of dimethylbenzene (DMB)-induced ear vasodilatation and acetic acid-induced capillary permeability enhancement in mice whereas the antinociceptive activity was evaluated using acetic acid-induced writhes and hot plate test methods in mice. Additionally, the chemical composition of OR has been also analyzed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC/MS). 37 compounds, representing 74.42% of the total oil content, were identified. β-Selinene (7.38%), aromadendrene (5.30%), β-elemene (5.22%), cis-piperitol (5.21%), cis-β-guaiene (4.67%), ylangene (3.70%), 3-heptadecene (3.55%), δ-cadinene (3%) and β-cadinene (2.87%) were found to be the major constituents of the oil. Oral pretreatment with OR (62.5-1000 mg/kg) not only decreased the DMB-induced ear vasodilatation but also attenuated capillary permeability under acetic acid challenge in mice. OR significantly reduced the writhing number evoked by acetic acid injection. All test samples showed no significant analgesic activity on the hot plate pain threshold in mice. These data demonstrated that the OR inhibits inflammatory and peripheral inflammatory pain. These results may support the fact that the essential oil of traditional Hui prescription played a role in the inflammation of stroke.