cinnamon
1、 Pharmacopoeia standard of cinnamon         This product is the dried bark of Cinnamomum cassia Presl, a Lauraceae plant. .
        [properties] the product is in groove or roll shape, 30-40cm long, 3-10cm wide or diameter, and 0.2-0, 8cm thick. The outer surface is grayish brown, slightly rough, with irregular fine wrinkles and transverse protruding lenticels, and some can see gray white stripes; The inner surface is reddish brown, slightly flat, with fine longitudinal lines, which show oil marks. It is hard and brittle, easy to break, with uneven section. The outer layer is brown and rough, and the inner layer is reddish brown and oily. There is a yellow brown line between the two layers. It smells strong, tastes sweet and spicy.
        [identification] (1) cross section of this product: the number sequence of cork cells, the outer wall of the innermost cell thickened and lignified. Stone cells and secretory cells were scattered in the cortex. There are stone cell groups in the middle column sheath, intermittently arranged in a ring, with fiber bundles on the outside, and the stone cells usually have a thin outer wall. Phloem rays are 1-2 rows wide and contain fine calcium oxalate crystals; Fibers are usually in bundles of 2-3; . Parenchyma cells contain starch granules.
        Powder reddish brown. Most fibers are scattered individually, long fusiform, 195-920 µ m long, about 50 µ m in diameter, thick wall, lignified, and no obvious pits. Stone cells are square or round in shape, with a diameter of 32-88 µ m and a thick wall, some of which are thin on one side. Oil cells are round or oblong, with a diameter of 45-lo8 µ M. calcium oxalate needle crystals are fine and scattered in ray cells. Cork cells are polygonal and contain reddish brown substances.
        (2) Take 0.5g of this product powder, add 10ml of ethanol, cold soak for 20 minutes, shake constantly, filter, and take the filtrate as the test solution. In addition, take cinnamaldehyde reference substance and add ethanol to make a solution containing 1 µ l per 1ml as the reference solution. According to the thin-layer chromatography (general rule 0502), suck 2-5 µ l of the test solution and 2 µ l of the control solution, respectively dot them on the same silica gel G thin-layer plate, develop them with petroleum ether (60-90 ℃) - ethyl acetate (17:3), take them out, dry them, and spray dinitrophenylhydrazine ethyl alcohol test solution. In the chromatogram of the test sample, spots with the same color appear at the corresponding position of the chromatogram of the control sample.
        [check] moisture   Not more than 15.0% (the fourth method of general rule 0832).
        Total ash   Not more than 5.0% (general rule 2302).
        [content determination] volatile oil   Determine according to the volatile oil determination method (general rule 2204 B method).
        The volatile oil content of this product shall not be less than 1.2% (ml/g).
        Cinnamaldehyde   Determine according to high-performance liquid chromatography (general rule 0512).
        ; Octadecylsilane bonded silica gel was used as filler; ; The detection wavelength was 290nm. The number of theoretical plates should not be less than 3000 based on cinnamaldehyde peak.
        ; Take an appropriate amount of cinnamaldehyde reference substance, weigh accurately, add methanol to make a solution containing 10 µ g per 1ml.
        Preparation of test solution   Take about 0.5g of this product powder (passing through No. 3 screen), weigh it accurately, place it in a corked conical flask, add 25ml of methanol precisely, weigh it, sonicate (Power 350W, frequency 35kHz) for 10 minutes, place it overnight, sonicate once in the same way, weigh it again, use methanol to make up the lost weight, shake it well, and filter it. Accurately measure 1ml of the continuous filtrate, put it into a 25ml measuring bottle, add methanol to the scale, and shake well.
        Assay   Precisely suck 10 µ l of the control solution and 10 µ l of the test solution respectively, inject them into the liquid chromatograph, and determine.
        The content of cinnamaldehyde (c9h8o) in this product shall not be less than 1.5% calculated as dry product.
        Decoction pieces
        [processing] remove impurities and coarse skin. Mash when needed.
        [identification] [inspection] is the same as that of medicinal materials.
        [nature, taste and meridian tropism] spicy, sweet and hot. Return to kidney, spleen, heart and liver channels.
        [functions and indications] tonifying fire and helping Yang, inducing fire and returning to the yuan, dispersing cold and relieving pain, warming the meridians, for Yang fistula, cold pain in the waist and knees, kidney deficiency as asthma, deficiency Yang floating up, dizziness and red eyes, cold pain in the heart and abdomen, deficiency cold vomiting and diarrhea, cold hernia and abdominal pain, dysmenorrhea and amenorrhea.
        [usage and dosage] 1 ～ 5g.
        [note] those with bleeding tendency and pregnant women should use it with caution; It is not suitable to use with akashite.
        [storage] store in a cool and dry place.


2、 Chemical constituents of cinnamon
Cinnamon contains 1.98% - 2.06% volatile oil, and its main components areCinnamaldehyde（cinnamaldehyde）， cinnamyl acetate （cinnamyl acetate）， ,Protocatechuic acid（protocatechuic acid）， Trans cinnamic acid, etc.
Cinnamon also contains 3'- methyl levo epicatechin [3'- ○ -methyl- (-) -epicatechin], 5,3'- dimethyl levo epicatechin, 5,7,3'- trimethoxy levo epicatechin, 4'- methyl dextro catechin [4'- ○ -methyl- (+) -catechin], 7,4'- dimethyl dextro catechin, 5,7,4'- trimethyl dextro catechin, l-epicatechin-3- ○ - β- glucoside, l-epicatechin-8 - β - glucoside, l-epicatechin-6 - β - glucoside, l-epicatechin, cinnamtannin A2, A3, A4,ProcyanidinsC1（procyanidin）、ProcyanidinsB1、ProcyanidinsB2、ProcyanidinsB5、ProcyanidinsB7、ProcyanidinsA2, procyanidin b2-8-c - β - D-glucoside, procyanidin b2-6-c - β - D-glucoside, cinnzeylanine,Ceylon cinnamyl alcohol（cinnzeylanol）, Racemic syringaresinol, 5,7-dimethyl-3 ', 4'- dioxymethyl racemic epicatechin [5,7-dimethyl-3', 4'-di- ○ -methyl- (±) -epicatechin], cinnamaldehyde cycloglycerin-1,3-acetal (9,2'- trans) [cinnamic aldehyde cycloglycerol-1,3-acetal (9,2'-trans)], cinnamaldehyde cycloglycerin-1,3-acetal (9,2'- CIS), cinnamon compounds such as cassioside, cinnamoside, and cinnamon polysaccharide ax.

3、 Pharmacological action of cinnamon
1. effect on central nervous system: 1.1 Sedative effect: cinnamaldehyde contained in cinnamon has obvious sedative effect on mice, which is manifested by reduced spontaneous activity, resistance to excessive activity produced by methamphetamine, dyskinesia produced by rotarod test, and prolongation of anesthesia time of cyclohexbarbital sodium. The method of tail pressing stimulation or intraperitoneal injection of acetic acid to observe writhing movement in mice proved that it had analgesic effect.
1.2 Cooling effect: it can reduce the normal temperature of mice and the artificial fever caused by typhoid and paratyphoid mixed vaccines. Cinnamaldehyde and sodium cinnamate have antipyretic effects on rabbits with fever caused by warm needling. It can delay the time of tetanic convulsion and death caused by strychnine, and reduce the incidence of tetanic convulsion and death caused by nicotine. .
2. antihypertensive effect: aconite and cinnamon compound have antihypertensive effect on adrenocortical hypertensive rats (model formed by burning one side of adrenal gland); It has no effect on renal hypertensive rats (a model formed by ligation of kidneys in Figure 8). This effect may be caused by aconite and cinnamon promoting the adrenal activity with reduced function, which tends to be normal.
3. preventive effect of schistosomiasis: mice were orally administered with 0.2ml/10g body weight (10.8g/180ml) of the infusion (unspecified variety) every day for 15 days. On the third day of taking the infusion, they were infected with Schistosoma japonicum, which had no preventive effect. If it was used with realgar, areca nut and ferula, it had a certain effect.
4. effects on blood: both in vitro and in vivo tests of cinnamon significantly inhibited ADP induced platelet aggregation in rats. In vitro tests showed that cinnamon Decoction and methanol soluble fraction had strong anticoagulant effects. . In vivo test, cinnamon Decoction also had no anticoagulant effect and did not affect the fibrinolytic activity of rabbits. 5. effect on digestive system: 5.1 Stomach strengthening effect: Cinnamon oil stimulates the sense of smell, can reflexively promote gastric function, and can also directly have a mild stimulating effect on the gastric mucosa, so that the secretion is increased and the peristalsis is enhanced, showing an aromatic stomach strengthening effect.
5.2 Intestinal excitation: Cinnamon oil can promote intestinal movement and excite the intestinal tract when given orally to rabbits. It also has the same effect on the isolated rabbit intestine, which provides a good explanation for the ancient theory of warming the spleen and stomach and removing cold accumulation.
6. other functions: 6.1 Menstrual dredging effect: a large amount of cinnamon oil can cause uterine congestion, indicating the menstrual dredging effect, which provides an experimental basis for the abortion effect of ancient herbal medicine.
6.2 Bactericidal effect: Cinnamon oil has a strong bactericidal effect, and its effect on Gram positive bacteria is better than that of negative ones. It is rarely used as an antibacterial drug because of its irritancy, but external application can treat stomach pain, flatulence and colic.
6.3 Stomach strengthening and wind expelling agent: it can be taken orally as stomach strengthening and wind expelling agent. It also has obvious fungicidal effect. It has been used to treat tinea capitis with a mixture containing 1.5% cinnamon oil and 0.5% thymol. Cinnamaldehyde and sodium cinnamate can cause vasodilation of frog web membrane and increase of white blood cells in rabbits.
6.4 Expectorant and antitussive effect: Cinnamon oil is excreted from the lung after absorption, diluting mucus, showing expectorant and antitussive effect.
6.5 Diuretic effect: it is discharged from the kidney and causes local irritation, showing a certain diuretic effect.
6.6 Anti radiation effect: sodium cinnamate has anti radiation effect on the lethal dose of cobalt 60 and gamma rays given to mice and dogs at a time.
6.7 Anti complement effect: diterpenes in cinnamon have anti complement effect.