Assessment of potential toxicological effects of cinnamon bark aqueous extract in rats

Cinnamon stick is world widely used in cooking, traditional medicine, perfumery and aesthetic industries. Many studies have demonstrated the potential of cinnamon extracts in diabetes treatment. Although it has been reported as safe in general cooking recipe and categorized as GRAS by USDA, sub-acute toxicity procedure was conducted in this study to determine effect of cinnamon extract on histopathological changes as well as the haematological parameters of blood. Water extraction was done for dried cinnamon. Twenty-four female Sprague Dawley rats were used in this study. The oral route was selected because it is the most likely route of human exposure through the consumption of herbs. The concentrations studied were 0.1, 0.5 and 2.0g/kg cinnamon aqueous extract (CE). There were no statistically significant effects of all concentrations of CE on behaviour, mortality, water intake, food consumption, weight gain, internal organs weight (liver and kidney) and heamatological parameters during treatment and post-treatment periods except 1) the slight decrease in kidney and liver weight of rats treated with 0.5g/kg and 2) slight decrease in liver weight of rats treated with 2.0g/kg, during post-treatment period. Hence, these toxicity studies suggest that the CE is low to moderate in toxicity and CE below 0.5 g/kg dose level is safe to be used in the efficacy study especially for diabetes treatment

Sustained delivery efficiency of curcumin through ZSM-5 nanozeolites/ electrospun nanofibers for counteracting senescence of human adipose-derived stem cells

In the present study, ZSM-5 nanozeolite was incorporated into the Poly-epsilon-Caprolactone/Gelatin nanofibers (PCLGEL NFs) for controlled and sustained release of a natural polyphenol, curcumin (CUR) to enhance the prolonged in vitro expansion of human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSCs) without inducing cellular senescence. XRD, FTIR, BET, TGA, FE-SEM, TEM and water contact angle analysis were used to characterize the fabricated nanozeolites and NFs. A study on the drug discharge pattern from the composite CUR@ZSM-5/PCL-GEL electrospun NFs displayed that by loading CUR into the ZSM-5 nanozeolites, the initial burst release was somewhat eliminated, and a sustained and prolonged drug discharge from NFs was obtained. The data set obtained through FE-SEM, LSCM, MTT and PicoGreen assays, qPCR, and western blotting also revealed better cell adhesion and enhanced metabolic activity and proliferation rate for hADSCs cultured on the CUR@ZSM-5/PCL-GEL NFs compared to other types of NFs after 14 and 28 days of incubation. Besides, Utilizing ZSM-5/NFs for sustained and prolonged delivery of CUR not only remarkably reduced the expression levels of p16INK4A, a crucial modulator of cellular senescence but also led to a significant increase in the transcriptional level and activity of hTERT/telomerase and telomere extension, as well as osteoblastic differentiation markers. These findings demonstrated the potential of ZSM-5/NFs for sustained/controlled release of CUR therapeutic molecules in designing a novel platform toward counteracting cellular senescence and achieving sufficient quantities of fresh hADSCs for regenerative medicine applications

Cytokine Modulatory Effects of Sesamum Indicum Seeds Oil Ameliorate Mice with Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disorder of the central nerve system (CNS), which affects the brain and spinal cord. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is the most commonly applied experimental model for studying the MS. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of Sesamum indicum seeds oil on Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis (EAE) in mice. Methods: Sesame oil was administrated intraperitoneally three days before immunization. IFN-γ, IL-10, IL-17 and TGF-β levels and mRNA expression in supernatant of and within cultured mononuclear cells were assessed. Results: According to our results, sesame oil treated mice demonstrated significant disease severity reduction (P=0.01 and 0.001, respectively). Treated EAE mice also represented statistically significant delay in the onset of symptoms in comparison with control group. The average IFN-γ levels and mRNA of sesame oil treated EAE mice were less than untreated EAE group. IL-10 and TGF-β levels and mRNA did not differ significantly in sesame oil treated EAE mice in comparison to untreated EAE group. IL-17 levels and mRNA were also found to be decreased significantly in treated mice in comparison to untreated mice. Conclusions: Even thoughTH1 and TH17 cells through secretion of IFN-γ and IL-17, respectively, are involved in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis and EAE, but IL-10 has been shown to exhibit suppressive effects on these disorders. It can be concluded that sesame oil is able to induce TH2 and TH17-related immune responses and suppress TH1 type in EA

Antiproliferative activity of coumarin and cinnamon water extracts on human ovarian cancer cells

Coumarin is one of the important compounds of cinnamon which possess many biological activities such as anticoagulation, antithrombotic, antimicrobial and anti-oxidant activities. This study was performed to demonstrate the presence of coumarin in cinnamon stem bark through chromatographic fractionation and exploring the potential anticancer properties of cinnamon extract on human ovarian epithelial carcinoma cell line A2780. Water and solvent extraction, chromatographic fractionation and isolation were done for dried cinnamon. The structure of the isolated compound 1 was elucidated by spectroscopic methods. Separation and quantification of compound 1 in cinnamon water extracts were carried out by HPLC. Identification of the compound 1 was achieved by comparing retention times and UV spectra with the standard curve. Cytotoxicity analysis was performed using MTT assay in which A2780 cells were exposed to different concentrations of cinnamon water extract and compound 1. Compound 1 was identified as coumarin by its spectroscopic data. Both cinnamon water extracts and coumarin inhibit the proliferation of A2780 cells in vitro with 50% inhibitory concentration values of 9.1 and 0.64 mg/mL, respectively. The results showed coumarin alone manifested higher growth inhibition than cinnamon water extract toward A2780 cells. The smaller inhibitory effect of cinnamon water extract can be attributed to the presence of a lower concentration of coumarin in the cinnamon water extract and anti-proliferative property in cinnamon due to coumarin presence may be owing to the synergistic effect of the other compound in cinnamo