Advances on Chemical Constituents of Volatile Oil from Angelicae Sinensis Radix and Their Pharmacological Effect

Angelicae Sinensis Radix, drived from a medicinal and edible plant Angelica sinensis, with the reputation of "nine Angelica recipes out of ten". The volatile oils from Angelicae Sinensis Radix was the main medicinal component of Angelicae Sinensis Radix, mainly including benzene phthalides, terpenoids and alkanes, its chemical composition was complex. Such factors as growth environment, concoction process, extraction methods and other factors all can trigger changes in volatile oil constituents and content from Angelicae Sinensis Radix. Angelicae Sinensis Radix essential oil has diverse pharmacological activities such as anti-hypotension, protection of ischemia-reperfusion injury, asthma, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer, etc., implying its high clinical application value. This paper reviewed the literature on the volatile oil of Angelicae Sinensis Radix in the past ten years, the chemical components of Angelicae Sinensis Radix were sorted out and the factors affecting the chemical components were summarized, focusing on its anti-hypotensive, ischemia-reperfusion injury protection, asthma and other active effects, in order to provide reference for the further development and utilization of the volatile oil of Angelicae Sinensis Radix.