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DOI: 10.1055/s-0030-1250119
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York
Anti-scratching Behavioral Effect of the Essential Oil and Phytol Isolated from Artemisia princeps Pamp. in Mice
Publication History
received March 31, 2010
revised May 13, 2010
accepted June 16, 2010
Publication Date:
19 July 2010 (online)

Abstract
The anti-scratching behavioral effect of the essential oil and phytol isolated from Artemisia princeps Pamp. (AP, family Asteraceae), which is widely used in traditional medicine for inflammatory diseases, was investigated in vivo. Treatment of mice with AP essential oil (APEO) and phytol inhibited histamine- and compound 48/80-induced scratching behaviors. The anti-scratching behavioral effects of APEO and phytol are in proportion to their vascular permeability-inhibitory effects. These agents also inhibited the level of allergic cytokines, IL-4, and TNF-α, and the activation of transcription factors, NF-κB and c-jun (AP-1), in histamine-treated skin tissues. Based on these results, APEO and phytol may improve scratching behavior in skin by inhibiting the expression of allergic cytokines via the regulation of NF-κB and AP-1 activation.
Key words
Artemisia princeps - Asteraceae - phytol - essential oil - scratching
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Dong-Hyun Kim, Ph.D.
Department of Life and Nanopharmaceutical
Sciences and Department of Pharmacy
College of Pharmacy
Kyung Hee University
1, Hoegi, Dongdaemun-ku
130 - 701 Seoul
Korea
Phone: +82 29 61 03 74
Fax: +82 29 57 50 30
Email: dhkim@khu.ac.kr