ABSTRACT
Cinnamomum cassia is widely utilized as a spice in different cookeries worldwide, especially in Asian cuisines. This herb is also being used in different forms of traditional medicine [Unani, Ayurvedic, Japanese and Chinese] for managing conditions like dyspepsia, peptic ulcer disease and ischemic brain injury. Recent studies have shown the scientific evidence for the medicinal use of this particular herb in several diseases like H. pylori infection, diabetes, brain ischemia and cancers. This article reviews the literature on potential benefits of the herb published within the last 10 years. The authors used Medical Subject Headings [MeSH] terms [Cinnamomum] with [cassia] or [arromaticum] to filter the PubMed database. To date, no systemic review focusing on medicinal use of C. cassia was found in the literature. Various research articles elucidating diverse pharmacological properties of C. cassia were identified. The standardised extract of C. cassia or the active compounds extracted from the herb might prove to be a novel candidate for early prevention and complimentary management of conditions like diabetes mellitus or H. Pylori-associated disorders
ABSTRACT
Cumulative evidence has now demonstrated the stimulation of mucosal mast cells by both allergic and non-allergic triggers and their inhibition as a potential therapeutic target in many diseases like food allergy and ulcerative colitis. Hence, we screened medicinal plants from Pakistan against antigen- and ionophore-induced degranulation of mucosal mast cells. Aqueous ethanol extracts were screened. IgE/antigen- and A23187-induced degranulation of mucosal-type murine bone marrow derived mast cells [mBMMCs] were screening assays and /2-hexosaminidase released from degranulated mBMMCs was measured. Real time-polymerase chain reaction was employed to examine the expression of TNF-a and IL-4 mRNA. Acetoxychavicol acetate, was examined by degranulation assays and real time-PCR. Among the ten plants screened against IgE/antigen stimulated degranulation, five plants Alpinia galangal, Mentha arvensis, Myrtus communis, Polygonum bistorta and Syzygium aromaticum demonstrated significant [p<0.01] suppression of the degranulation at 100 microg/ml. Of them, Alpinia galangal showed significant [p<0.0l] inhibition at 32 microg/ml. In A23187-induced degranulation, all plants showed significant [p<0.01] inhibition at 100 microg/ml except Tamarix dioica. Again Alpinia galangal exhibited significant [p<0.0l] suppression at 32 microg/ml. In a concentration dependent assay, Alpinia galangal revealed significant suppression at 10 microg/ml against A23187-stimulated degranulation
Acetoxychavicol acetate demonstrated significant [p<0.0l] inhibition at 3.2 microM in IgE/antigen-treated cells and at 10 microM in A23187-treated cells. Furthermore, both Alpinia galangal and acetoxychavicol acetate suppressed the IgE/antigen- and A23187-enhanced mRNA expression of inflammatory cytokines, TNF-alpha and IL-4, in mBMMCs. Our findings revealed the suppressive effect of Alpinia galangal and acetoxychavicol acetate on degranulation of mBMMCs by allergic and non-allergic stimuli, which can be utilized for future drug development against food allergy or ulcerative colitis