Abstract
Various essential oils used in the treatment of rheumatism and inflammation as well
as some of their main constituents and phenolic compounds known for their irritant
and pungent properties were screened for activity as inhibitors of prostaglandin biosynthesis.
A newly developed combination of a prostaglandin-synthesizing cyclooxygenase system
from sheep seminal vesicles and an HPLC separation technique for the metabolites of
arachidonic acid was used as test system. Eugenol- and thymol/carvacrol-containing
essential oils, the pure compounds eugenyl acetate, capsaicin, curcumin and carvacrol,
as well as urushiol from Toxicodendron radicans (L.) Kuntze (poison ivy) exhibited the greatest inhibitory effect.
1 Antiphlogistisch wirksame Drogen, 3. Mitteilung.
