Antimicrobial Activities of Cinnamon Oil and Cinnamaldehyde from the Chinese Medicinal HerbCinnamomum cassiaBlume

Abstract

Both Cinnamomum verum J.S. Presl. and Cinnamomum cassia Blume are collectively called Cortex Cinnamonmi for their medicinal cinnamon bark. Cinnamomum verum is more popular elsewhere in the world, whereas C. cassia is a well known traditional Chinese medicine. An analysis of hydro-distilled Chinese cinnamon oil and pure cinnamaldehyde by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry revealed that cinnamaldehyde is the major component comprising 85% in the essential oil and the purity of cinnamaldehyde in use is high (> 98%). Both oil and pure cinnamaldehyde of C. cassia were equally effective in inhibiting the growth of various isolates of bacteria including Gram-positive (1 isolate, Staphylococcus aureus), and Gram-negative (7 isolates, E. coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Samonella typhymurium), and fungi including yeasts (four species of Candida, C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. glabrata, and C. krusei), filamentous molds (4 isolates, three Aspergillus spp. and one Fusarium sp.) and dermatophytes (three isolates, Microsporum gypseum, Trichophyton rubrum and T. mentagraphytes). Their minimum inhibition concentrations (MIC) as determined by agar dilution method varied only slightly. The MICs of both oil and cinnamaldehyde for bacteria ranged from 75 microg/ml to 600 microg/ml, for yeasts from 100 microg/ml to 450 microg/ml, for filamentous fungi from 75 microg/ml to 150 microg/ml, and for dermatophytes from 18.8 microg/ml to 37.5 microg/ml. The antimicrobial effectiveness of C. cassia oil and its major constituent is comparable and almost equivalent, which suggests that the broad-spectrum antibiotic activities of C. cassia oil are due to cinnamaldehyde. The relationship between structure and function of the main components of cinnamon oil is also discussed.

Comparison of the Contents and Antimicrobial Activities of Commercial and Natural Cinnamon Oils

“…Ooi et al found that both oil and pure cinnamaldehyde of C. cassia were equally effective in inhibiting the growth of bacteria including Gram positive and Gram negative and fungi. They concluded that broad- spectrum antibiotic activities of C. cassia oils are due to cinnamaldehyde [23] . Siddiqua et al found that cinnamaldehyde and clove oils showed effective antibacterial activity and when combined, the activity increased [24] .…”

Composição química e concentração mínima bactericida de dezesseis óleos essenciais sobre Escherichia coli enterotoxigênica

“…As atividades antimicrobianas dos óleos de C. cassia e T. vulgaris, avaliadas por diferentes metodologias, já são bem relatadas na literatura para uma série de microorganismos patogênicos (Ooi et al, 2006;Oussalah et al, 2007;Abdollahzadeh et. al., 2014;Dussault et al, 2014;Pekmezovic et al, 2015).…”

Impact of bioactive substances on the gastrointestinal tract and performance of weaned piglets: a review

“…Essential oils from C. verum and C. cassia and pure cinnamaldehyde were inhibitory for bacteria (Table 5), yeasts (C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. tropicalis and C. krusei), for moulds and dermatophytes (Ooi et al, 2006). Also Matan et al (2006) found that the antifungal activity of cinnamon and clove oils volatile against spoilage fungi, yeasts and bacteria.…”

“…Eugenol dominates in oils from clove (Syzygium aromaticum) and cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) (Dušan et al, 2006). Cinnamaldehyde is the main component of C. verum or C. cassia (Ooi et al, 2006). Essential oils themselves make 1.5% to 4.5% of the plant (Bozin et al, 2006;Hazzit et al, 2006;Yang et al, 2007).…”