Background and objectives: Many Nepeta species have been commonly used in Iranian folk medicine as tranquilizer, relaxant, carminative and restorative tonic for nervous and respiratory disorders. Inflammation is a problem in many diseases and has an important role in brain function that can cause neurodegenerative disorders. Inflamed glial cells can exacerbate neurodegenerative diseases by prod...

Iranian Traditional Medicine (ITM) describes a kind of dementia with similar signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD). It explains the pathology of dementia with cold intemperament of the brain, which means that the brain is colder than its healthy form. ITM strategy for treatment of dementia is to heat the brain up by medical "hot" herbs. Nepeta menthoides (NM) is one of these "hot" herb...

Medicinal plants play an important role in the treatment of a wide range of diseases, even if their chemical constituents are not always completely recognized. Observations on their use and efficacy significantly contribute to the disclosure of their therapeutic properties. Calamintha nepeta (L.) Savi is an aromatic herb with a mint-oregano flavor, used in the Mediterranean areas as a tradition...

The stick insect, Anisomorpha buprestoides, and the catmint, Nepeta cataria, produce closely related cyclopentanoid terpenes, anisomorphal and nepetalactone. Tracer experiments with isotopes indicate that anisomorphal is synthesized by the walking stick from normal terpene precursors (acetate or mevalonate). In the catmint plant, isolated leaf disks synthesized nepetalactone, utilizing the same...

Nepeta cataria Linn (Family Labiatae), commonly known as catnip, is a herbaceous plant and is a native of southeast Europe, Orient, Southwest Asia and Western temperate Himalayas. Leaves and flowering tops, which contain tannin and volatile oil are aromatic, carminative, tonic, diaphoretic, refrigerant, emmenagogue, antiseptic, stimulant and useful in infantile colic and hysteria. Leaves are de...

Background and Objective: Physical activity has long been associated with mental health. Nepeta menthoides is a native Iranian herb recently acknowledged for its anti-depressant properties. This study attempted to determine and compare the effects of swimming exercise and Nepeta menthoides on reserpine-induced depression in rats.Materials and Methods: Male rats (n=80) were assigned to 8 g...

A comprehensive study on essential oils extracted from different Calamintha nepeta (L.) Savi subsp. glandulosa (Req.) Ball samples from Tarquinia (Italy) is reported. In this study, the 24-h steam distillation procedure for essential oil preparation, in terms of different harvesting and extraction times, was applied. The Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis showed that C. nepet...