Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
www.pharmpress.com/fact
Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 1997; 2: 192
Aromatherapy is gaining popularity but scientific evidence for its efficacy is lacking. The effect of essential oils on different muscle systems was therefore investigated.
Guinea-pig ileum, chick biventer muscle, rat phrenic-nerve-diaphragm and uterus were investigated in vitro. Dilutions of essential oils and components were introduced into a gut bath and the tissue effect monitored through an isometric transducer attached to a pen recorder.
Different essential oils had different effects on different tissues, ie. spasmolytic or spasmogenic. The same essential oil from a different source could also show different effects on the same tissue. The mechanisms of action varied for the different essential oils, though most had a similar non-specific activity.
Due to the diversity of response of different essential oils on different tissues, caution is indicated in the use of essential oils especially in pregnancy and parturition.
