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OBJECTIVE@#The barks, leaves, and branches of Cinnamomum cassia have been historically used as a traditional Chinese medicine, spice, and food preservative, in which phenylpropanoids are responsible compounds. However phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathways are not clear in C. cassia. We elucidated the pathways by descriptive analyses of differentially expressed genes related to phenylpropanoid biosynthesis as well as to identify various phenylpropanoid metabolites.@*METHODS@#Chemical analysis, metabolome sequencing, and transcriptome sequencing were performed to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the difference of active components content in the barks, branches and leaves of C. cassia.@*RESULTS@#Metabolomic analysis revealed that small amounts of flavonoids, coumarine, and cinnamaldehyde accumulated in both leaves and branches. Transcriptome analysis showed that genes associated with phenylpropanoid and flavonoid biosynthesis were downregulated in the leaves and branches relative to the barks. The observed differences in essential oil content among the three tissues may be attributable to the differential expression of genes involved in the phenylpropanoid and flavonoid metabolic pathways.@*CONCLUSION@#This study identified the key genes in the phenylpropanoid pathway controling the flavonoid, coumarine, and cinnamaldehyde contents in the barks, branches and leaves by comparing the transcriptome and metabolome. These findings may be valuable in assessing phenylpropanoid and flavonoid metabolites and identifying specific candidate genes that are related to the synthesis of phenylpropanoids and flavonoids in C. cassia.
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OBJECTIVE: To establish a method of quantitative analysis of multi-components by single marker (QAMS) for determining four essential oils (cinnamaldehyde, cinnamyl alcohol, cinnamic acid, 2-methoxy cinnamaldehyde) in Cinnamomum cassia, and provide the experimental base for establishing the quality standard of Cinnamomum cassia. METHODS: Cinnamaldehyde was used as the internal reference standard, and the relative correction factors (RCF) of cinnamyl alcohol, cinnamic acid, and 2-methoxy cinnamaldehyde in Cinnamomum cassia were calculated. The contents of the four components were determined by both external standard method and QAMS. The validity of the QAMS method was evaluated by comparison of the quantitative results of both methods. RESULTS: The RCFs had good reproducibility, relative correction factor 0.673, 0.605 and 1.943, with RSDs of 0.529%, 0.373%, and 0.759%, respectively. No significant differences were found in the quantitative analysis results of cinnamyl alcohol, cinnamic acid, 2-methoxy cinnamaldehyde by using RCF and ESM. CONCLUSION: In the absence of reference substance, the content determination of the four essential oils in Cinnamomum cassia can be realized by QAMS, and this method can be used in the multi-index evaluation of Cinnamomum cassia essential oil constituents. It is suggested that the standard for cinnamaldehyde content be increased to 2.5%, and the contents of total cinnamyl alcohol, cinnamic acid and 2-methoxy cinnamaldehyde be not less than 0.2%.
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Objective: In this study, a two-classification model based on the idea of “ingredient-efficacy” was established for the quality classification of Cinnamomum cassia with considerations to quality control components and biological activities. Methods: A method to determine quality control components was proposed by UPLC. The in vitro anti-oxidant activity of C. cassia was reflected by DPPH and hydroxyl radical scavenging experiment. The quality control index and anti-oxidant index were correlated by a Logistic algorithm. Finally, a binary logistic regression model for classification of C. cassia was established. Results: UPLC fingerprints of 20 samples of C. cassia were established, and their anti-oxidant activities were determined. Four quality control components (coumarin, cinnamyl alcohol, cinnamic acid, and cinnamaldehyde) were screened out by principal component analysis, and their methodological validation was carried out. According to the regression equation, 20 batches of C. cassia were divided into four grades: excellent, good, medium, and poor. Conclusion: The binary logistic regression model can describe the mapping relationship between the grade of C. cassia. It can better express the classification standard for the prepared C. cassia. This study provides a new idea for quality evaluation of C. cassia.
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Cinnamomum cassia, a well-known traditional Chinese medicine, is mainly distributed in tropical areas. Its genuine producing areas contain Guangdong Province, Guangxi Province and parts of Vietnam. The chemical composition is rich in C. cassia, including volatile oil, flavanol, terpenoids, ligans, phenolic acids, polysaccharides, etc. Traditionally, cinnamaldehyde and cinnamic acid from volatile oil are its main effective components. In this paper, the resource, chemical composition and main pharmacological activities of C. cassia were summarized. And on this basis, the relationship between chemical components and drug efficacy, including the volatile oil, polyphenols, flavanol, and diterpenoids, as well as the relationships between biogenetic ways, traditional efficacy, modern pharmacological effects and chemical composition were analyzed. It is suggested that identification and quantification of volatile oil, polyphenols, flavanol and diterpenoids should be carried out and the further research of the chemical group of polyphenols and terpenoids from C. cassia should be focused, which could provide basis for clarifying the quality marker (Q-marker) and establishing scientific quality standards of C. cassia.
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OBJECTIVE:To optimize the extraction technology of total volatile oil from Cinnamomum cassia Presl. and Cyper-us rotundus L. in Hegan lipi granules. METHODS:With the extraction rate of total volatile oil as the index,Box-Behnken response surface method was applied to investigate the effects of water amount,soaking time for medicinal materials and extraction time by distillation on the amount of the extracted volatile oil and optimize the extraction technology of total volatile oil from C. cassia Pre-sl. and C. rotundus L. in Hegan lipi granules,and verification tests were conducted. RESULTS:The relevant coefficient of the es-tablished quadratic polynomial regression model of 3 variable factors was 0.970 5. The optimal extraction technology was as follows as 5 times as much as the amount of medicinal materials of water,soaking time of 2.5 h,extraction time of 6.0 h. Verification tests showed the extraction rate of total volatile oil was 1.65%,with a deviation rate lower than 2% compared to the predicted value of 1.67%. CONCLUSIONS:The established model is reliable with good predictability. The optimal technology can be used for the ex-traction of total volatile oil from C. cassia Presl. and C. rotundus L. in Hegan lipi granules.
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Objective: To study the chemical constituents from the barks of Cinnamomum cassia. Methods: Silica gel, ODS, Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography, and semi-preparative HPLC were used to isolate the compounds. The structures of the compounds were identified on the basis of their physicochemical properties, spectroscopic data, and with the literature. Results: Fifteen compounds were isolated from the barks of C. cassia growing in China, including cinnzeylanine (1), anhydrocinnzeylanine (2), anhydrocinnzeylanol (3), cinnzeylanol (4), (-)-lariciresinol (5), evofolin B (6), 5'-medioresinol (7), (+)-syringaresinol (8), 2-hydroxyl cinnamie acid (9), 1, 10-seco-4ζ-hydroxy-muurol-ene-1, 10-diketone (10), (-)-epicatechin (11), kaempferol (12), proanthocyanidin A2 (13), stigmasterol (14), and stearic acid (15). Conclusion: Compounds 5-7 and 10 are lignans isolated from the plant for the first time, and compounds 1-4 are ryanodanediterpenes isolated from the barks of C. cassia growing in China for the first time.
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Objective To establish the method of fingerprint analysis for volatile oil from Cinnamomum cassia Presl and to determine the main characteristic components.Methods The main components of the volatile oil of Cinnamomum cassia Presl from different habitats of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces and from GAP base were compared by GC fingerprinting,and 11 common components were determined.The chromatogram conditions were as follows: the GC system consisted of Flame Ionization Detector(FID) and HP6890 gas chromatograph with a HP-5 column(Crosslinked Mehyl siloxame,30 m? 0.321 mm? 0.25 ? m),the temperatures of sample vent and FID were 240 ℃ and 300 ℃ respectively and the column programmed temperature was elevated from 100 ℃ to 140 ℃ at the rate of 20 ℃ ? min-1 and then from 140 ℃ to 200 ℃ at the rate of 2 ℃ ? min-1,the carrier gas was N2 and its flow rate was 0.4 mL? min-1,and the split ratio was 50 ∶ 1.Results With 11 components as indexes,the RSD of precision,reproducibility and stability of GC fingerprinting method is in the range of 5 %.Conclusion A good fingerprint of Cinnamomum cassia Presl has been established.The method is reliable,accurate and can be applied for the quality control of Cinnamomum cassia Presl.