ABSTRACT
Objective: To investigate the correlation among the "four natures" drug properties, the abilities of penetration enhancement and chemical components of the essential oils (EOs) from pungent Chinese herbs. Methods: A total of 20 kinds of EOs with different "four natures" drug properties were selected for pair comparison. EOs were extracted by steam distillation and analyzed by GC-MS, the skin resistance kinetic technology was used to investigate the abilities of penetration enhancement. Based on the research results, the factors were selected by stepwise discrimination analysis method and variance analysis method and the prediction model was established. Results: The order of the abilities of penetration enhancement of EOs was: hot > warm > cold and cool. The higher the content of sesquiterpenoids was, the warmer the property tended to be. On the contrary, it did not contain sesquiterpenes, or its content was low, and its property tended to be cold and cool, and the abilities of penetration enhancement were weak. Conclusion: There was a correlation among the "four natures" drug properties, the abilities of penetration enhancement and chemical components of EOs from pungent Chinese herbs. And the sesquiterpenoids from EOs may be the most correlated chemical components with the "four natures" drug properties and the abilities of penetration enhancement.