BACKGROUND Anethole and estragole are monoterpene position isomers and constituents of essential oils from aromatic plants and were used in this study with the aim of analyzing their anti-inflammatory activity. METHODS The anti-edematogenic effects of anethole and estragole were evaluated through plethysmometry in Swiss mice. RESULTS Anethole inhibited carrageenan-induced edema at doses of ...

Estragole (EG) is biosynthesized in herbs including anise, basil, bay, tarragon, fennel and marjoram, and is thought to be a useful biomass for the food and health industries. Moreover, the metabolites from estragole are useful intermediates in organic synthetic chemistry. However, estragole has been transformed only by chemical methods, and no biocatalysts have been reported. In this paper, we...

Estragole is a volatile terpenoid, which occurs naturally as a constituent of the essential oils of many plants. It has several pharmacological and biological activities. The objective of the present study was to investigate the mechanism of action of estragole on neuronal excitability. Intact and dissociated dorsal root ganglion neurons of rats were used to record action potential and Na+ curr...

Estragole, a relatively nontoxic terpenoid ether, is an important constituent of many essential oils with widespread applications in folk medicine and aromatherapy and known to have potent local anesthetic activity. We investigated the effects of estragole on the compound action potential (CAP) of the rat sciatic nerve. The experiments were carried out on sciatic nerves dissected from Wistar ra...

PREFACE The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65, California Health and Safety Code 25249.5 et seq.) requires that the Governor cause to be published a list of those chemicals " known to the state " to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity. The Act specifies that " a chemical is known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity...if in the opinion of t...

The extent of bioactivation of the herbal constituent estragole to its ultimate carcinogenic metabolite 1'-sulfooxyestragole depends on the relative levels of bioactivation and detoxification pathways. The present study investigated the kinetics of the metabolic reactions of both estragole and its proximate carcinogenic metabolite 1'-hydroxyestragole in humans in incubations with relevant tissu...

The alkenylbenzene estragole is a constituent of several herbs and spices. It induces hepatomas in rodents at high doses following bioactivation by cytochrome P450s and sulfotransferases (SULTs) giving rise to the ultimate carcinogenic metabolite 1'-sulfooxyestragole which forms DNA adducts. Methanolic extracts from different alkenylbenzene-containing herbs and spices were able to inhibit SULT ...

This study describes the analysis of estragole in dry fennel preparations and in infusions prepared from them and an associated safety assessment. A wide range of estragole levels of 0.15-13.3mg/g dry fennel preparation was found. The estragole content in infusions was considerably lower ranging between 0.4 and 133.4μg/25mL infusion prepared from 1g dry material. Infusions prepared from whole f...

Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L., Lamiaceae) is a common herb, used for culinary and medicinal purposes. The essential oils of different sweet basil chemotypes contain various proportions of the allyl phenol derivatives estragole (methyl chavicol), eugenol, and methyl eugenol, as well as the monoterpene alcohol linalool. To monitor the developmental regulation of estragole biosynthesis in sweet...

The positional isomers trans-anethole and estragole are present in essential oils extracted from many aromatic plants used in traditional medicine, and have largely been used as flavoring agents in the food industry. There are many studies describing the biological activities of these essential oils; however, few studies have been performed to determine the biological effects of these substance...