Radix Angelicae Pubescentis (R.A.P.) is mainly produced in Sichuan, Hubei, Anhui and other provinces in China. Usually its excavation takes place early spring or late fall. It is common to remove the fibrous roots and sediment, half dried above the heated mud. They were piled for 2 to 3 days, then heated to dry absolutely when they become soft. Modern research wrote that R.A.P. have anti-inflammatory, analgesic and sedative effects; inhibition of platelet aggregation; antihypertensive effect, but not lasting for a longer time (Zhu et al., 2007;Liu et al., 1994; Zhang et al., 2008).
Columbianetin, Columbianetin acetate, Columbiadin, osthol, isoimperatorin, bergapten, xanthotoxin, Columbianetin-β-D-glucopyranosid, etc are the main compounds from the ethanol extracts of the R.A.P. (Lin et al., 2011). Bergapten and xanthotoxin has photosensitive and anti-tumor effects. At the same time, it also can cure headache induced by cold weather, rheumatism, lassitudache etc (Deng et al., 2004; Zhang et al., 2002; Li et al., 2011). This paper evaluates the mechanism of the anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of the alcohol extract of R.A.P..
