title: Anti-inflammatory effect of volatile oil from Schizonepeta tenuifolia on carrageenin-induced pleurisy in rats and its application to study of appropriate harvesting time coupled with multi-attribute comprehensive index method.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Schizonepeta tenuifolia Briq. (ST) herbs have been used as a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for treating colds for thousands of years. The volatile oil is considered as the main material basis responsible for the efficacy of ST and has attracted lots of attention on its anti-inflammatory effect recently.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This paper investigated the anti-inflammatory effects of the distilled volatile oils from Schizonepeta tenuifolia (STVO) that were collected at different harvesting times on carrageenin-induced pleurisy in rats. Based on the anti-inflammatory effects, instead of contents of marker components, we aim to evaluate the quality and determine the appropriate harvesting time of ST.
  
  
  METHODS
  There were eleven groups with eight male rats in each randomly. They were model group, control group, positive group (dexamethasone) and eight groups treated with eight STVOs at different harvesting times. All treatments were performed by gavage and administered once a day on four consecutive days. One hour after the last treatments, except the rats in control group, those in other groups were treated with carrageenin to induce the pleurisy. Four hours later, all the rats were sacrificed and their pleurisy exudates and lung tissues were collected for further analysis. To evaluate the comprehensive anti-inflammatory effect of the eight STVOs, multi-attribute comprehensive index method (MACIM) was used to obtain the integration of various effects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All the eight STVOs could decrease the seven indicators relating to pleurisy, which were exudate volume, leukocytes, protein level, myeloperoxidase (MPO), malondialdehyde (MDA), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukine-1β (IL-1β). Majority of these decreases were significant (P<0.01, P<0.05). As far as each indicator was concerned, each STVO showed different effect from others. With MACIM, it was found that STVO in Group 6 was the most effective one with the highest Vsand appropriate harvesting time of ST was in late September.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study may provide scientific basis to further understanding of the mechanism of STVO in anti-inflammatory effect of carrageenin-induced pleurisy. Meanwhile, this study also provides a new access to determining the appropriate harvesting time of TCM and even evaluating the quality of TCM.
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Road, Nanjing 210023, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization, and National and Local Collaborative Engineering Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization and Formulae Innovative Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Road, Nanjing 210023, China. Electronic address: shanmingqiu@163.com.
authors.forename: Ming-Qiu
authors.initials: MQ
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Road, Nanjing 210023, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization, and National and Local Collaborative Engineering Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization and Formulae Innovative Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Road, Nanjing 210023, China. Electronic address: 907900330@qq.com.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Road, Nanjing 210023, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization, and National and Local Collaborative Engineering Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization and Formulae Innovative Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Road, Nanjing 210023, China. Electronic address: yusheng1219@163.com.
authors.forename: Sheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Road, Nanjing 210023, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization, and National and Local Collaborative Engineering Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization and Formulae Innovative Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Road, Nanjing 210023, China. Electronic address: 1060683539@qq.com.
authors.forename: Shu-Chen
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Road, Nanjing 210023, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization, and National and Local Collaborative Engineering Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization and Formulae Innovative Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Road, Nanjing 210023, China. Electronic address: zhangliguanxiong@163.com.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Road, Nanjing 210023, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization, and National and Local Collaborative Engineering Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization and Formulae Innovative Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Road, Nanjing 210023, China. Electronic address: awding105@163.com.
authors.forename: An-Wei
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Road, Nanjing 210023, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization, and National and Local Collaborative Engineering Center of Chinese Medicinal Resources Industrialization and Formulae Innovative Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Road, Nanjing 210023, China. Electronic address: qnwyjs@163.com.
authors.forename: Qi-Nan
authors.initials: QN
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002351:Carrageenan / Q000633:toxicity*; D019686:Lamiaceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010998:Pleurisy / Q000139:chemically induced*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D010938:Plant Oils; D002351:Carrageenan
keywords: Anti-inflammatory effect; Carrageenin-induced pleurisy; Multi-attribute comprehensive index method; Schizonepeta tenuifolia; Volatile oil