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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter May 13, 2021

A comparative study of chemical constituents and safety of Thai herbal medicated oil formula and traditional medicated oil

  • Poorada Booncharoen ORCID logo , Waranya Boonchai , Pravit Akarasereenont and Pinpat Tripatara EMAIL logo

Abstract

Objectives

Medicated oil has been traditionally used as an analgesic medicine to relieve pain by applying to the skin over painful muscles, and has been established in The National List of Essential Medicines (2556 B.E.). Traditional Medicated oil (TMO) consists of cassumunar ginger, Wan En Lueang, and Wan Ron Thong. It is prepared by frying herbs in coconut oil which is a traditional method. Thai Herbal Medicated oil formula (MOF) comprises cassumunar ginger, sweet flag, lesser galangal, wild turmeric, Wan En Lueang, and Wan Ron Thong. Its preparation by maceration with methyl salicylate is modified method to avoid the heat in the traditional preparation. Since both recipes have different methods of extraction and compositions, it is necessary to determine the chemical constituents and acute skin irritation potential of MOF and TMO.

Methods

This study applied Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) for quality assessment of MOF extract and TMO extract. The mass spectra of the compounds matched with authentic standards from the NIST library. The compounds were identified by comparing their retention time and peak area, and the percentage of matched factor was more than 80%. The safety assessment on acute skin irritation used the 4 h human patch test (4 h HPT) in 36 healthy subjects.

Results

The 37 compounds were found in MOF extract. The most common chemical constituents were terpene derivatives; monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes, and others, namely benzene derivatives, ester, phenylpropanoid, and other compounds. The 33 compounds were found in TMO extract and the chemical groups were similar to MOF extract. The 4 h HPT demonstrated that the MOF extract, TMO extract, methyl salicylate solvent, and coconut oil solvent, did not induce skin irritation. However, the vehicle of the formulae and the whole formulae as MOF and TMO clinically induced skin irritation and accorded with rubefacient. The characteristic as mild erythema or dryness, but not erythema with edema, could appear after the use of rubbing skin products.

Conclusions

The chemical constituents found in MOF and TMO extracts were partially different and their acute skin irritation reactions were not significantly different. A study on the efficacy of both remedies should be performed in the future, as well as a study on active chemical constituents. This study provides scientific evidences of quality and safety, including GC-MS condition for poly-herbal medicated oil standardization.


Corresponding author: Pinpat Tripatara, MD, PhD (Pharmacology), Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand, Phone: +66819873123, Fax: +6624115026, E-mail:

Funding source: Siriraj Research and Development Fund

Award Identifier / Grant number: R2R.356/16

Funding source: Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University

Acknowledgments

The herbal ingredients, chemical materials, experimental apparatuses were supported by Center of Applied Thai Traditional Medicine and the Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Thailand.

  1. Research funding: The dissertation funding is supported by “Siriraj Research and Development Fund (managed by Routine to Research Unit, Grant No.R2R.356/16), Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Thailand.

  2. Author contributions: PB carried on all experiments, analyzed the data and drafted the manuscript. PA, PT and WB conceived the concept and experimental design of the study. WB helped to guide an idea and experimental design on 4 h HPT. PA supported the herbal and chemical materials. PA, PB, PT and WB discussed the results, revised and approved the manuscript.

  3. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

  4. Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.

  5. Ethical approval: The local Institutional Review Board deemed the study exempt from review.

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Supplementary Material

The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/jcim-2020-0454).


Received: 2020-11-30
Accepted: 2021-03-29
Published Online: 2021-05-13

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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