Bioactive components from oils of Siwu Decoction and Xiangfu Siwu Decoction by gas chromatography: mass spectrometry and principle components analysis

To evaluate the correlativity between volatile components and bioactivity of ‘Si-Wu Decoction’ and ‘Xiang-Fu-Si-Wu decoction’ and their major constituting herbs. Firstly, the chemical compositions of essential oils, obtained by hydrodistillation from ‘Si-Wu Decoction’ and ‘Xiang-Fu-Si-Wu decoction’ and their major constituting herbs (Angelica sinensis, Ligusticum chuanxiong, Cyperus rotundus, Saussurea lappa), were analyzed by GC-MS. Secondly, oxytocin induced female mice uterine contraction animal model was applied to evaluate the bioactivity of ‘Si-Wu Decoction’, ‘Xiang-Fu-Si-Wu decoction’, and its major constituting herbs. Finally a mathematic model was built between chemical compositions and activity of inhibiting mice uterine contraction in vitro. And the correlativity between chemical compositions and bioactivity was analyzed by principal components analysis (PCA). The volatile components of ‘Si-Wu Decoction’ and ‘Xiang-Fu-Si-Wu decoction’ were mostly derived from Angelica sinensis and Ligusticum chuanxiong. And ‘Xiang-Fu-Si-Wu decoction’ oil components were partly from Cyperus rotundus and Saussurea lappa. Twenty two compounds, their contribution ratio for bioactivity are great or closely related to bioactivity, were obtained by PCA. The compounds, (Z)-ligustilide, cis-ocimene, γ-selinene, Spathulenol, 3-butylidenephathalide, (E)-ligustilide, mainly belong to ‘Si-Wu Decoction’. The components, Dehydrocostuslactone, Cyperene, β-caryophyllene, γ-selinene, Curcumene, α-elemene, β-cyperone, α-cyperone, (Z)-ligustilide, Squalene belong to ‘Xiang-Fu-Si-Wu decoction’. The method of GC-MS coupled with PCA is potential method to evaluate the bioactive components of TCM and TCM formulae.