The use of “purified” cooling agents in pharmaceutical and cosmetic preparations only dates back to the late 1880s with the commercial production of menthol from Japanese peppermint (Mentha arvensis) oil in Japan (1). The cultivation of peppermint in Japan before the Christian era appears to predate any other country, and menthol is reputed to have been used medicinally for almost as long (2). ...

The role of sensory-affective bias and of two types of experience (simple exposure to an odor and exposure to an odor in association with conspecifics) in the establishment and maintenance of preference of rat pups for odorants was investigated. (a) Simple exposure of pups to a mildly aversive odorant (peppermint extract) from birth to 21 days of age was sufficient to establish a preference for...

Recent studies showed that self-other integration, as indexed by the joint Simon effect (JSE), can be modulated by biasing participants towards particular (integrative vs. exclusive) cognitive-control states. Interestingly, there is evidence suggesting that such control states can be induced by particular odors: stimulating odors (e.g., peppermint aroma) seem to induce a more focused, exclusive...

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS  Topical peppermint oil prevents intestinal spasm, but can cause rebound spasm. Lidocaine hydrochloride, a local anesthetic, may work as an antispasmodic by blocking Na + channels. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of topical lidocaine on the inhibition of colonic spasm during colonoscopy, compared with peppermint oil. PATIENTS AND METHODS  A random...

The antimicrobial and antiplasmid activities of essential oils (orange oil, eucalyptus oil, fennel oil, geranium oil, juniper oil, peppermint oil, rosemary oil, purified turpentine oil, thyme oil, Australian tea tree oil) and of menthol, the main component of peppermint oil, were investigated. The antimicrobial activities were determined on the Gram (+) Staphylococcus epidermidis and the Gram (...

The essential oils of peppermint and spearmint are distinguished by the position of oxygenation on the constituent p-menthane monoterpenes. Peppermint produces monoterpenes bearing an oxygen at C3, whereas spearmint produces monoterpenes bearing an oxygen at C6. Branching of the monoterpene biosynthetic pathways in these species is determined by two distinct cytochrome P450s that catalyze the r...