Prerna Jain, Lakshmi Thangavelu, Anitha Roy

Abstract

Introduction: Cinnamon zeylanicum (C. zeylanicum) is a tropical evergreen tree of Lauraceae family. It is one of the oldest culinary spices known. And because of containing analgesic, antiseptic, aphrodisiac and memory enhancing characteristics, cinnamon is traditionally used for treating many ailments, along with its culinary uses. Acetylcholinesterase (HGNC symbol ACHE), also known as AChE or acetylhydrolase, is the predominant cholinesterase in the body. Materials and Method: AChE inhibitory activities at different concentrations were taken (5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160 and 320μg/ml) and were dissolved in a base-tris (0.05 M) buffer, following the spectrophotometric method. In this method, 200μl of acetylthiocholine iodide, 1000μl of DTNB (3mM), and 200μl of test extract solution at the different concentrations were mixed and incubated for 15 min at 30oC. Then, the mixture was monitored spectrophotometrically at 412 nm 10 times, each 13 s. After that, 200μl of AChE solution was added to the initial mixture, to start the reaction and then the absorbance was determined. Results and Discussion: The inhibitory effect of different concentrations of cinnamon extract on the activity of acetylcholinesterase was examined. The plant extracts demonstrated the potent inhibition of the ACh. The IC50 was found to be 53.25μg/ml. Maximum inhibition was found to be 87.09% at 320μg/ml. Conclusion: Because of possessing analgesic, antiseptic, aphrodisiac, astringent, carminative, haemostatic and insecticidal characteristics, cinnamon is considered as a traditional treatment for a lot of disease conditions. Cinnamon extract, on performing various phytochemical analysis, was found to break down the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, and is therefore considered an anti-acetylcholinesterase. This results in the assimilation of the acetylcholine by the brain.