• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.196-200
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• 1989

The methanolic extract of the Rhizome of Curcuma zedoaria exhibited a significant prolongation of hexobarbital (HB)-induced hypnosis. Through liquid chromatography of an ether soluble fraction. monitoring by bioassay, three sequiterpenes, germacrone (A), curzerenone (B) and germacrone epoxide (C) were isolated as active consituents. A single treatment (100-200 mg/kg, i.p.) of each compound showed not only a significant prolongation of HB-induced sleeping time but also a significant inhibition of aminopyrine N-demethylase activity in mice, and further exhibited a typical type I binding spectra with oxidized rat hepatic cytochrome P-450 induced by phenobarbital. All of the compounds provoked a sleep episode at a subhypnotic dose of HB, implying that they possess CNS depressant properties.