Abstract
The effects of cinnamon bark and zanthoxylum fruit on various digestive enzymes were investigated. Both crude drugs were without effect on starch-dextrinizing activity of diastase and protein-peptic activity of biodiastase. Starch-saccharifying and starch-dextrinizing activities of pancreatin were inhibited by both crude drugs, while the protein-peptic activity of pancreatin was inhibited only by zanthoxylum fruit to below 30% of the activity in the absence of the crude drug. Both crude drugs inhibited starch-saccharifying activity of diastate, lipid-peptic activity of pancreatin and cellulose-saccharifying activity of biodiastase by 30 to 40%.The effects of cinnamon bark and zanthoxylum fruit on digestive enzymes in gastric and intestinal juice collected from rats were investigated. Starch-dextrinizing, starch-saccharifying and protein-peptic activities of intestinal juice were decreased by the crude drugs, zanthoxylum fruit being more inhibitory than cinnamon bark.To investigate the effects of the crude drugs on digestive enzymes in vivo, 600 mg (5 μCi) of either 125I-bovine serum albumin or 125I-egg white albumin was orally administered to rats 10 min after administration of 100 mg of cinnamon bark or zanthoxylum fruit. Radioactivity transferred to the blood was less in the animals pre-fed with zanthoxylum fruit than in the control animals, indicating that digestion of either bovine serum albumin or egg white albumin was delayed in the presence of the crude drug.
