Review of aromatherapy essential oils and their mechanism of action against migraines.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Migraines have become a major threat to human health, as they significantly affect human health and quality of life due to a high prevalence rate, attack rate and pain intensity. Aromatherapy, with its comfortable and pleasant natural characteristics and rapid and efficient characteristics, is widely favored by patients in the folk. Chinese folk also have the application history and related records of aromatic plants in the treatment of migraine. AIM OF THE STUDY: This study was conducted to review the pathogenesis of migraine, the application of plant essential oils in the treatment of migraine, and further explore the material basis and mechanism of action of plant essential oils against migraine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Search the electronic literature of essential oils with anti-migraine effect in Google Scholar, PubMed and China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and further search the research situation of the monomer components of essential oils in migraine, inflammation, pain and other aspects. RESULTS: studies show that there are 10 types of plant essential oils that could relieve migraine symptoms, and that 16 monomers may play a role in migraine treatment by effectively inhibiting neurogenic inflammation, hyperalgesia and balancing vasorelaxation. CONCLUSION: Aromatic plant essential oils can relieve migraine effectively, these findings can be used as an important part of the development of anti-migraine drugs.

The Stimulatory Effects of Medicinal Plants on ß2-adrenoceptors of Tracheal Smooth Muscle.

Medicinal plants have been identified and used as primary sources in prevention and treatment of pulmonary diseases (mainly obstructive pulmonary diseases) from ancient times due to various pharmacological activities. In this review, the stimulatory effects of extracts, some fractions and constituents of medicinal plants on ß2-adrenoceptors which could be used as possible therapeutic agents in the future were reviewed. Various databases including; Medline, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Google Scholar were searched using stimulatory effect, ß2-adrenoceptors, possible mechanism, tracheal smooth muscle (TSM), medicinal plants and their constituents as keywords from 1985 to 2017. All studied plants including; Nigella sativa, Rosa damascena, Thymus vulgaris, Carum copticom, Carum carvi, Zataria multiflora, Crocus sativus, Cuminum cyminum, Liomnia acidissima, Portulaca oleraceae, Satureja hortensis, Ephedra sinica and Achillea millefolium showed relaxant effect on tracheal smooth muscle with a stimulatory effect on ß2-adrenoceptors mechanism. The studied plants and their constituents could be of therapeutic value in clinical practice as a bronchodilatory drug by ß2-adrenoceptors stimulatory mechanism for treatment of obstructive pulmonary diseases.

Can oral microbial infections be a risk factor for neurodegeneration? A review of the literature.

Neurodegenerative diseases, e.g., Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, etc., are serious life-threatening diseases, which involve degeneration of the neurons with time. Numerous studies have discussed the role of microbes in neurodegeneration. Oral cavity being the primary site of infection acts as a gateway for gigantic population of microbes to the human body. Oral infection is known to be associated with neurodegeneration. The current review summarizes various mechanisms due to which the oral microbiome can cause neurodegeneration.

Insight into the possible mechanism of the summer diapause of Delia antiqua (Diptera: Anthomyiidae) through digital gene expression analysis.

The onion fly, Delia antiqua, is a major underground agricultural pest that can enter pupal diapause in the summer and winter seasons. However, little is known about its molecular regulation due to the lack of genomic resources. To gain insight into the possible mechanism of summer diapause (SD), high-throughput RNA-Seq data were generated from non-diapause (ND) and SD (initial, maintenance and quiescence phase) pupae. Three pair-wise comparisons were performed and identified, 1380, 1471 and 435, and were significantly regulated transcripts. Further analysis revealed that the enrichment of several functional terms related to juvenile hormone regulation, cell cycle, carbon hydrate and lipid metabolism, innate immune and stress responses, various signalling transductions, ubiquitin-dependent proteosome, and variation in cuticular and cytoskeleton components were found between ND and SD and between different phases of SD. Global characterization of transcriptome profiling between SD and ND contributes to the in-depth elucidation of the molecular mechanism of SD. Our results also offer insights into the evolution of insect diapause and support the importance of using the onion fly as a model to compare the molecular regulation events of summer and winter diapauses.

Possible Mechanism(s) of the Relaxant Effects of Achillea wilhelmsii on Guinea-Pig Tracheal Chains.

Achillea wilhelmsii have been used in folk remedies. The relaxant effects of the extract of A. wilhelmsii on tracheal chains of guinea pigs were examined. The relaxant effects of four cumulative concentrations of the extract, theophylline and saline were examined by their relaxant effects on precontracted tracheal chains of guinea pig by KCl (group 1), 10 µM methacholine (group 2), incubated tissues by atropine, propranolol and chlorpheniramine and contracted by KCl (group 3) and incubated tissues by propranolol and chlorpheniramine and contracted by methacholine (group 4). In group 1 and 2, all concentrations of theophylline and three higher concentrations (4, 6 and 8 mg/mL) of the extract showed significant relaxant effects compared to that of saline. In groups 3 and 4 experiments also all concentrations of the extract showed significant relaxant effects compared to that of saline. The relaxant effect of three higher concentrations (4, 6 and 8 mg/mL) of the extract in group 1 were significantly greater than those of group 2 and in group 3 were significantly lower than those of group 1. There were significant positive correlations between the relaxant effects and concentrations for theophylline in groups 1 and 2 and the extract in all four groups of experiments. These results showed a potent relaxant effect for the extract from A. wilhelmsii on tracheal chains of guinea pigs. A muscarinc receptor blockade was also suggested for the extract.