Background: Angelica sinensis and Aurantii fructu used in a pair, named Danggui-Zhiqiao herb-pair (DZHP), which was rich in essential oil and has been adopted to promote blood circulation, dispel blood stasis, and relieve pain in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).
Objective: To analyze the composition and pharmacological effects of essential oil from DZHP.
Materials and methods: The composition of the essential oil from DZHP was analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Its analgesic activity was evaluated by acetic acid-induced writhing test and hot plate test. The hemorheology test was carried out to evaluate the effect on hemorheology in rats with blood stasis syndrome.
Results: Twenty-eight components were identified and the main components were α-pinene (3.07%), β-pinene (2.0%), β-myrcene (3.71%), D-limonene (49.28%), γ-terpinen (9.53%), α-terpinolene (1.80%), α-terpineol (2.02%), β-bisabolene (1.13%), butylidenephthalide (1.43%), and Z-ligustilide (16.08%). The pharmacology test showed that the essential oil significantly inhibited the number of writhes induced by acetic acid with inhibition rate of 44.64% and significantly increased hot-plate latency compared with control group from 30 to 90 min after oral administration of drugs in mice. It could significantly decrease plasma viscosity, whole blood relative index at high and low shear rate, whole blood reduced viscosity at high and low shear rate, and erythrocyte rigidity index in hemorheology test.
Conclusion: The composition of the essential oil of DZHP was determined successfully and it had analgesic and promoting blood circulation activities.
Summary: Angelica sinensis and Aurantii fructu used in a pair, named Danggui-Zhiqiao herb-pair (DZHP), which was rich in Essential oil and has been adopted to promote blood circulation, dispel blood stasis and relieve pain in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).Twenty-eight components were identified and the main components were α-pinene (3.07%), β-pinene (2.0%), β-myrcene (3.71%), D-limonene (49.28%), γ-terpinen (9.53%), α-terpinolene (1.80%), α-terpineol (2.02%), β-bisabolene (1.13%), butylidenephthalide (1.43%), and Z-ligustilide (16.08%).The essential oil significantly inhibited the number of writhes induced by acetic acid and increased hot-plate latency compared with control group from 30 min to 90 min after oral administration of drugs in mice.The essential oil could significantly decrease plasma viscosity (PV), whole blood relative index (WBRI) at high and low shear rate, whole blood reduced viscosity (WBRV) at high and low shear rate, and erythrocyte rigidity index (ERI) in hemorheology test. Abbreviations used: DZHP: Danggui-Zhiqiao herb-pair; TCM: traditional Chinese medicine; GC/MS: gas chromatography /mass spectrometry; PV: plasma viscosity; WBRI: whole blood relative index; WBRV: whole blood reduced viscosity; ERI: erythrocyte rigidity index.
Keywords: Danggui-Zhiqiao herb-pair; analgesic activity; composition; essential oil; hemorheology.