Herbs with Antidepressant Effects
Scott Mendelson in Herbal Treatment of Major Depression, 2019
Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus Cinnamomum. Ceylon cinnamon (the source of its Latin name, zeylanicum) or “true cinnamon” is indigenous to Sri Lanka and southern parts of India. There is also Cinnamomum cassia, known as Chinese cinnamon. Cinnamon in its various forms was known by the ancients and highly prized. It has been used primarily as a food spice, but also has a long history of use as a medicinal herb. In Ayurvedic Medicine, cinnamon is considered a remedy for respiratory, digestive, and gynaecological ailments. Modern research has established that cinnamon has properties including anti-microbial, hypoglycemic, antihypertensive, anti-oxidant, and free-radical scavenging properties, inhibition of tau aggregation, and anti-nociception, anti-inflammatory, and hepato-protective effects.1 Among the phytochemicals in the various cinnamons are cinnamaldehyde – the predominant molecule – as well as cinnamic acid, cinnamyl alcohol, coumarin, eugenol, linalool, benzyl benzoate, and δ-cadinene.2 A significant difference between “true” Cinnamon and Chinese Cinnamon is that Chinese cinnamon can contain much higher, even potentially dangerous, levels of coumarin. As is commonly seen, the species of the genus Cinnamomum will here be generally referred to by the common name cinnamon.
Natural Products from the Amazon Region as Potential Antimicrobials
Mahendra Rai, Chistiane M. Feitosa in Eco-Friendly Biobased Products Used in Microbial Diseases, 2022
The Great Age of Navigation was strongly stimulated by the search for extremely aromatic species such as cinnamon. The true cinnamon, Cinnamomum zeylanicum (or Cinnamomum verum), as well as Cinnamomum camphora and Cinnamomum cassia (Chinese cinnamon or cassia) are other Lauraceae aromatic species, which includes many others, such as the very aromatic sassafras (Sassafras albidum). In the Amazon region Lauraceae is not only endemic, but one of the most important and complex botanical families. Aiouea, Endlicheria, Nectandra, Paraia, Pleurothyrium, Rhodostemonodaphne, and Sextonia are some of the genera that occur together with the very common species of Aniba and Ocotea (Castro and Lorenzin 2005).
Management of Diabetes and Hyperlipidaemia by Natural Medicines
Dilip Ghosh, Pulok K. Mukherjee in Natural Medicines, 2019
Cinnamomum (cinnamon) is a genus of the Lauraceae family. Cinnamon comes from the inner bark of tropical evergreen tree. There are two major types of cinnamon, Cinnamomum verum also known as Cinnamon zeylanicum (true cinnamon), and Cinnamomum cassia, also known as Cinnamomum aromaticum. There are studies that found that the cassia extract was superior to the zeylanicum extra in terms of the antidiabetic effect (Verspohl et al. 2005). In vivo and in vitro studies have shown that cinnamon in dried powder or aqueous extracts can help to improve the glucose metabolism by increasing GLUT-4 receptor synthesis, glycogen synthesis and phosphorylation of the insulin receptor (Khan et al. 2003; Medagama 2015).
In vitro inhibition of food borne mutagens induced mutagenicity by cinnamon (Cinnamomum cassia) bark extract
Published in Drug and Chemical Toxicology, 2018
Spices and herbs have been used for years to enhance the flavor and aroma of foods. The genus Cinnamomum comprises about 250 species which are distributed in Asia and Australia. Cinnamomum cassia originated from Sri Lanka (Radhakrishnan et al.1992, Jayaprakasha et al.2003) and is used in culinary preparations. Among the various medicinal properties reported, cinnamon is additionally used for treating common cold, for improving glucose metabolism in diabetics (Ping et al.2010, Kim et al.2006), useful as antidiarrheal (Kayande et al.2014), and antimicrobial agent (Singh et al.2007), and for inhibiting various cell lines (Schoene et al.2005, Kwon et al.2009). Cinnamons are rich in flavonoids, which are potent antioxidants (Singh et al.2007). The main constituent of cinnamon bark oil is cinnamaldehyde (CLD) (Mallavarapu et al.1995).
Protective effects of ethyl acetate extracts of Rimulus Cinnamon on systemic inflammation and lung injury in endotoxin-poisoned mice
Published in Drug and Chemical Toxicology, 2019
Feng Xu, Wentao Sang, Ling Li, Xinyu He, Feng Wang, Taoqun Wen, Nan Zeng
Rimulus cinnamon is the dried twig of Cinnamomum cassia Presl (China Pharmacopoeia Committee 2015). It is known to have anti-allergic, anti-tumor, and anti-inflammatory properties (Xu et al. 2007, Li et al. 2014, Wu et al. 2014). The investigations in the past decade have primarily focused on the anti-inflammatory properties of essential oils from R. cinnamon; however, we observed that the ethyl acetate extracts of R. cinnamon (EAE) have strong anti-allergic activities (Wu et al. 2014). According to a previous report, allergies are closely related to inflammation (Conti et al.2017). However, the anti-inflammatory effects of EAE have not been explored. In this study, the effects of EAE on systemic inflammation and lung injury in endotoxin-poisoned mice were investigated, and the underlying mechanism involving the inhibition of the NLRP3 inflammasome pathway was also determined.
Gualou Guizhi decoction reverses brain damage with cerebral ischemic stroke, multi-component directed multi-target to screen calcium-overload inhibitors using combination of molecular docking and protein–protein docking
Published in Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry, 2018
Juan Hu, Wen-Sheng Pang, Jing Han, Kuan Zhang, Ji-Zhou Zhang, Li-Dian Chen
Medicinal slices of TCM material, the root of Trichosanthes kirilowii Maxim. (Tianhuafen), Cinnamomum cassia Presl (Guizhi), Paeonia lactiflora Pall. (Baishao), Zingiber officinale Rose. (Ganjiang), Glycyrrhiz uralensis Fisch. (Gancao), and ZiziPhus jujuba Mill. (Dazao), were purchased from Fujian Xiang’an Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Quanzhou, China). Herbal remedies accorded with the 2015 edition Chinese pharmacopoeia standard after testing13. Six Chinese medicines sliced mixture in prescription proportion was crushed to powder (60 smash), added six times cold-water to soak in 30 min and let it simmer 30 min, strain the medicine juice through a piece of gauze, every boil the volume of decoction about be 150 ml; repeat again. The first filtrate was merged with the second filtrate, was concentrated in a rotary evaporator until the liquid has reduced to 120 ml.