Extraction and in vitro active evaluation of essential oil of Acorus tatarinowii Schott rhizome rich in β-asarone using enzymatic pretreatment and solvent-free microwave-assisted method

The essential oil from fresh rhizomes of Acorus tatarinowii Schott was obtained using the EP-SFM method (an enzymatic pretreatment and solvent-free microwave-assisted method) and characterized. The optimal conditions for essential oil extraction have been obtained experimentally through experiments on single-factor and response surface-based optimization. The highest essential oil content (1.48%, w/w) was obtained under the optimal conditions by SEM, TGA, FTIR, GC-MS and acetylcholinesterase inhibition activity analysis in vitro assay. The EP-SFM method was found to be effective in improving the extraction rate of essential oils and reducing extraction time, as indicated by the results. More importantly, this method greatly increased the active component content of beta-asarone (65.87%), and the content of beta-asarone was increased by 18.06% compared with the conventional steam distillation method (SD). The acetylcholinesterase inhibiting activity of EP-SFM essential oil was evaluated as well, which had the best acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity and was closest to the positive control group.