By

Giselle A. Borges e Soares, Tanima Bhattacharya, Tulika Chakrabarti, Priti Tagde and Simona Cavalu

https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/11/1/21

Since ancient times, essential oils (EOs) have been widely used and have been identified as therapeutic agents owing to their pharmacological and psychological properties. They were deemed to be physical, spiritual, and mental healing agents [1,2]. EOs are naturally occurring complex mixtures of volatile odor compounds synthesized as secondary metabolites by plants and are extracted through steam distillation, solvent extraction, maceration, cold press extraction, water distillation, and CO₂ extraction. Novel methods that are more efficient and provide higher yields include supercritical fluid extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, and ultrasound [3]. Studies conducted on animals and humans have shown that EOs can produce a variety of CNS targeted pharmacological effects such as anxiolytic effect, neuroprotection, antidepressant effect, anticonvulsant effect, analgesic, and sedative effect, to name a few. As a result, EOs can be used as an adjuvant therapy to prevent and relieve symptoms associated with CNS-based disorders such as insomnia, depression, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), etc. As they are naturally occurring, they have the added benefit of being non-toxic and safe when utilized correctly at appropriate concentrations, which have been proven through research in the last ten years.