Component Analysis and Functional Evaluation of Volatile Oil from Zanthoxylum armatum DC.

Objective:The main components of the fruit essential oil of Zanthoxylum armatum DC, as well as the effect of antioxidation, anti-fatigue and promoting sleeping effect in mice were studied. Method:The components of essential oil from Zanthoxylum armatum DC. was analyzed by GC-MS. With the extraction of the essential oil as the material, experiments were carried out using two kinds (dry incense method and wet incense method) of incense of three dose treated mice (low dose essential oil concentration:1.25 mL/m³;middle dose concentration of essential oil:2.5 mL/m³;high dose of essential oil concentration:3.75 mL/m³). Results:The analysis identified 25 substances, in which olefins and alcohols were the main component, including cineole (36.19%), g-terpinene (21.31%) and 3-carene (8.45%). All teating methods had a increase on superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) of the mice, but a decrease on malondialdehyde (MDA) content, both the middle dose and high dose had significanty effects compared with the control group. In anti-fatigue experiment, two treatments of bamboo leaves pepper essential oil had increased both small weight loading swimming and climbing pole time of the mice, and effects of both middle dose and high dose were remarkable (p<0.05). By observing, 2 hours after eating, the sleeping rate of mice was increased by essential oils incense treatment, and with the increase of time and dose, the effect was more obvious. From the point of processing mode, under the same test dose, humidifying fumigation method was better than dry fumigation in antioxidant effect, the degree of fatigue, and improvement on the sleep rate of mice. Conclusion:Essential oil extracted from Zanthoxylum armatum DC fruits had good effect on antioxidation, anti-fatigue and promotion of sleeping. It could be developed as a new kind of resources.