Asarone (Asa)

Asarone, which includes alpha (trans) and beta (cis) types, is an ether found in certain plants such as acorus and asarum. As a volatile fragrance oil, it is used in killing plant fungal pests and bacteria. The toxicity and carcinogenicity of asarone means that it may be difficult to develop practical anthelmintics and insecticides based on it.The main clinical symptom of asarone is prolonged vomiting that sometimes lasted more than 15 hours. Asarone is not metabolized to trimethoxyamphetamine as has been claimed by online vendors. Beta-asarone may be a potential candidate for development as a therapeutic agent to manage cognitive impairment associated with conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. alpha-Asarone has been shown to be hepatocarcinogenic and mutagenic in a human lymphocyte assay, a murine bone marrow cell assay and in an unscheduled DNA synthesis assay.