Satoru Mihara*

Nishinippori 2-10-12, Arakawa-ku, Tokyo 116-0013, Japan

*Corresponding Author: Satoru Mihara, Nishinippori 2-10-12, Arakawa-ku, Tokyo 116-0013, Japan.

Received: October 23, 2025; Published: October 27, 2025

Abstract

The therapeutic use of essential oils to treat illness and promote physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being is known as aromatherapy. Odor stimulation in a closed system with a low concentration of α-pinene, a bicyclic monoterpene in the essential oils of pine trees, induces a significant increase in parasympathetic nervous activity, thereby causing physiological relaxation in young adult females. Long-term exposure to similar conditions suppresses melanoma growth in mice. When the diluent is triethyl citrate (TEC; mw:276), which is used as a solvent and fixative in fragrances, long-term exposure to low levels of odorants, such as α-pinene, alcohols, phenols, ketones, and their derivatives, in an open system may activate glomeruli clustered in the lateral domain of the rat dorsal olfactory bulb (alcohol/phenol-responsive domain) and could increase hypothalamic β-endorphin levels and inhibit certain types of cancers. Meanwhile, μ-opioid receptors in cancer are involved in regulating the malignant transformation of tumors and participating in proliferation, invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis. Notably, μ-opioid receptor expression in transgenic mice with breast cancer was observed on larger growing tumors but not on the very small, early tumors. The regulation of stress levels through the modulation of β-endorphin via aromatherapy could not only improve disease progression and promote a sense of well-being in patients, but also provide alternative pharmacological treatment for very small, early tumors.

Keywords: Aromatherapy; Odor; Early-Stage Cancers; β-Endorphin; μ-Opioid Receptor

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Citation

Citation: Satoru Mihara. “Aromatherapy in early-stage cancers".Acta Scientific Cancer Biology 9.5 (2025): 03-10.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2025 Satoru Mihara. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.