Nepeta The Mechanism Of The Anti-inflammatory Effects Of Volatile Oil,

Herba schizonepetae, the aerial ground part of schizonepeta tenui-folia Briq(family Labiatae),is one of the commonly used Chinese herb that belongs to the category of relieving Exterior syndrome, which has the effect of expelling wind and treart miseal.The volatile oil is one of the major effective components and highly included in this herb.The results of the previous research showed:Schizonepetae Volatile oil(Sto)has the effect of anti acute inflammation obviousely for ig 3 days,and the anti-inflammation mechanism is related with the pathway of arachidonic acid(AA); the preliminary research of Pharmadynamics showed that Sto was given one time,the peak time of anti-inflammation effect in mice is 45 to 60 minutes after administration. Our research is based on the pharmadynamic research, for furtherly study the anti-inflammation effects and mechanism of Sto, so adopt the acute administration way of Sto to animals, to observe the effects of Sto on acute inflammation animal models. Meanwhile, we adopt two kinds of model to study its mechanism of anti-inflammation action: the acute pleurisy induced by carrageenan (Car) in rats and the asthma model induced by albumin egg (OVA) in mice. The results showed as follows:1.Sto exhibited definite anti-inflammation action: Sto inhibited the ear-swelling induced by xylene in mice, the increasing of celiac capaillary permeability incuced by acetic acid in mice, and the edema of paw induced by arachidonic acid in rats. Sto reduced the volume of exudation of pleurisy model induced by Car in rats, as well as the number of leukocyte and the contents of protein in exudation.2.The anti-inflammation mechanism of Sto are mainly showed below: (1) Affect the metabolism of arachidonic acid: Sto inhibited the generation of PGE₂ in exudation of the pleurisy model in rats and in lung tissue of the asthma model in mice. Sto reduced the contents of LTB₄ in lung tissue of the asthma model induced by OVA in mice. Sto significantly suppressed the edema of paw induced by arachidonic acid in rats.(2) Anti-oxidization: Sto significantly decreased the levels of the free-radical production such as NO, MDA in the two kinds of inflammatory model.