芳香植物精油已多方運用在食品、化妝品工業、醫藥等用途上。薄荷是一種傳統又廣效的藥草。在歐薄荷 (Mentha piperita) 中胡椒薄荷 (Mentha piperita L., peppermint) 氣味上芳香溫和且清涼，巧克力薄荷 (Mentha piperita L., chocolate mint) 帶有巧克力香味，其味香怡人，兩者在台灣能行全年繁殖，喜愛潮濕土壤，適應台灣本島整體氣候。因此本研究將以胡椒薄荷、巧克力薄荷為對象，利用GC-MS分析精油成分，再評估抗菌、抗氧化與抗發炎活性，並以茶樹精油為比較。兩種薄荷中以menthol為主且含有較多的醇類、萜烯。在抗菌部分，整體上胡椒薄荷與巧克力薄荷對於P. aeruginosa、C. albicans 、S. aureus及P. acnes抗菌效果優於茶樹精油，而抗氧化測試，清除DPPH能力及β-胡蘿蘿蔔素-亞麻油酸試驗，以胡椒薄荷peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) 的活性高於巧克力薄荷chocolate mint (Mentha piperita L.)。在清除Nitric oxide自由基能力試驗上，巧克力薄荷及胡椒薄荷精油皆優於α-tocopherol 與茶樹。在抗發炎部分巧克力薄荷優於α-bisabolol，胡椒薄荷反而為效果最弱。 Essential oil has been used in the food, cosmetic industry, medicine. Mint is a traditional and broad medicinal efficacy spectrum of herbs. In Mentha piperita, the peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) has mild and cool scent and chocolate mint (Mentha piperita L.) has pleasant flavor. Both adapt to the overall climate of Taiwan and they are breeding throughout the year. This study was to analyze the compositions of essential oils of mint by GC-MS analysis and to compare with tea tree oil as well as antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities.
The result showed the two kinds of mint essential oils contains more alcohol and terpenes and the major compound was menthol. The antimicrobial abilities of peppermint and chocolate mint against P. aeruginosa, C. albicans, S. aureus and P. acnes were better than tea tree oil did. For the anti-oxidation test including scavenging the DPPH radical and β-CaroVtene-linoleic acid assay, peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) showed better properties than chocolate mint (Mentha piperita L.) However, for the scavenging NO radical activity, chocolate mint and peppermint essential oils were better than α-tocopherol as well as tea tree oil. Chocolate mint had better anti-inflammatory activity than α-bisabolol did, however, peppermint displayed the weakest effect in this test.
