Evidence of the Sedative Effect of Neroli Oil, Citronellal and Phenylethyl Acetate on Mice

The sedative effects of neroli oil, Citrus aurantium (L.) subsp. aurantium, citronellal and phenylethyl acetate on mice were investigated in a series of experimental procedures. Under standardized experimental conditions the motility of female mice was reduced from arbitrarily graded 100% for untreated animals to 34.73% by neroli oil, to 50.18% by citronellal and 54.94% by phenylethyl acetate, respectively. In the serum of animals exposed for one hour, the concentration of the fragrances was analyzed by GC/FID and found to be 0.85 ng/mL for neroli oil, 2.53 ng/mL for citronellal and 5.35 ng/mL for phenylethyl acetate.