A preview of this full-text is provided by Springer Nature.
Content available from BioNanoScience
This content is subject to copyright. Terms and conditions apply.
Antioxidant and Immune Effects of Water Soluble Polysaccharides
Isolated from Cinnamomum verum Bark
Mehendi Goyal
1
&Harloveleen Kaur
1
&Maitri Bhandari
1
&Albert A. Rizvanov
2
&Svetlana F. Khaiboullina
2,3
&
Manoj Baranwal
1
Published online: 29 June 2018
#Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018
Abstract
Cinnamomum verum plant is widely used in traditional medicine to reduce inflammation. In the present study, water-soluble
polysaccharides were isolated from Cinnamomum verum bark followed by sequential separation from four solvent extracts
(hexane, dichloromethane, chloroform and methanol) and analysed for the presence of sugar, protein and different phytochem-
icals. Crude and purified ethyl acetate fractions of soluble polysaccharides were analysed in vitro using mouse leukemic
macrophage (RAW 264.7) cell line and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Water-soluble (crude and ethyl
acetate purified fractionation) polysaccharides contained glucose, whereas proteins and phytochemicals were absent. Water-
soluble polysaccharide fraction had less antioxidant activity as compared to all four solvent extracts. Also, water-soluble
polysaccharides (250 μg/ml) did not affect the cell growth, while all other four extracts (250 μg/ml) inhibited the growth of
RAW 264.7 cells. Cell growth inhibition was detected when concentration of crude and ethyl acetate fraction polysaccharides
was increased, where IC
50
values were 1120 ± 27 and 1780 ± 227 μg/mL, respectively. Interestingly, crude and ethyl acetate
polysaccharides showed concentration-dependent increase of the cell growth in PBMCs, indicating immunostimulating effect.
Our data suggests that the immunological properties of cinnamon may be associated with the presence of polysaccharides.
Keywords Polysaccharides .Peripheral blood mononuclear cells .Scavenging effect .Phytochemicals .MTT assay
1 Introduction
There is a great interest in using herbal components for treat-
ment of inflammation, immunosuppression and regenerative
therapy. Spices are non-leafy part of plants which has been
consumed for flavour and aroma since long time with no side
effect. Apart from being flavouring agents, spices are known
to possess several medicinal properties [1].
Cinnamon is one of the well-known spices originating from
Ceylon which is widely used for treating cardiovascular dis-
eases, chronic gastrointestinal and gynaecological disorders
[2]. It is an endemic plant most commonly found in the south
Asian regions such as Sri Lanka, India, China, Burma and
Indonesia [3]. There were different varieties of cinnamon such
as Cinnamomum verum,C. cassia,C. zeylanicum and C.
burmani belonging to the Lauraceae family which was one
of the oldest spices used as a medicine mentioned in the
Chinese literature since 4000 years. Cinnamon bark also
seemed to possess therapeutic properties such as anti-
bacterial [4], anti-inflammatory [5] and anti-cancer [6]. The
essential oil from the bark of cinnamon is a rich source of
mono-terpene and trans-cinnamaldehyde [7]. Nanocream pre-
pared using cinnamon leaf oil has also been developed for
tropical application [8]. Besides being a potent therapeutic,
the presence of different oils opened new applications in cos-
metics and food industry [3]. GC-MS analysis of the bark
extracts of cinnamon showed the presence of over 38 com-
pounds [9] where cinnamaldehyde, eugenol, linalool, cam-
phor and coumarin were found in major quantities.
Polysaccharides are structurally diverse macromolecules
which were originally identified in plants, bacteria, algae
and fungi. They have potent antibacterial, antiviral, anticancer
*Manoj Baranwal
manoj.baranwal@thapar.edu; baranwal.manoj@gmail.com
1
Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and
Technology, Patiala 147004, India
2
Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan Federal
University, Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia 420008
3
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of
Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
BioNanoScience (2018) 8:935–940
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12668-018-0542-3
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.