Effects of Thai Local Ingredient Odorants,Litsea cubeba and Garlic Essential Oils,on Brainwaves and Moods

The functional food market is growing with a compound annual growth rate of 7.9%. Thai food recipes use several kinds of herbs. Lemongrass, garlic, and turmeric are ingredients used in Thai curry paste. Essential oils released in the preparation step create the flavor and fragrance of the famous tom yum and massaman dishes. While the biological activities of these ingredients have been investigated, including the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities, there is still a lack of understanding regarding the responses to the essential oils of these plants. To investigate the effects of essential oil inhalation on the brain and mood responses, electroencephalography was carried out during the non-task resting state, and self-assessment of the mood state was performed. The essential oils were prepared in several dilutions in the range of the supra-threshold level. The results show that Litsea cubeba oil inhalation showed a sedative effect, observed from alpha and beta wave power reductions. The frontal and temporal regions of the brain were involved in the wave alterations. Garlic oil increased the alpha wave power at lower concentrations; however, a sedative effect was also observed at higher concentrations. Lower dilution oil induced changes in the fast alpha activity in the frontal region. The alpha and beta wave powers were decreased with higher dilution oils, particularly in the temporal, parietal, and occipital regions. Both Litsea cubeba and turmeric oils resulted in better positive moods than garlic oil. Garlic oil caused more negative moods than the others. The psychophysiological activities and the related brain functions require further investigation. The knowledge obtained from this study may be used to design functional food products.     

Disposable Electrodes for Capacitive Immunosensor

Disposable electrodes were fabricated by coating chromium (5 nm) and gold (200 nm) on glass strips (5.0 mm×25.4 mm) and used in a label‐free immunosensor. Human serum albumin (HSA) and its antigen (anti‐HSA) were used as a model system. Electropolymerization of o‐phenylenediamine was used for the immobilization of anti‐HSA by covalent binding. A linear relationship was obtained in the range from 1.0×10^?14 to 1.0×10^?9 M with a limit of detection of 8.0×10^?15 M. Each modified electrode can be reused up to 30 times. The developed system was applied for human serum samples and compared to Albumin BCG method.