ObjectiveTo investigate the inhibiting in vitro effect of cinnamaldehyde on human oral squamous carcinoma cell.MethodsUsing methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium（MTT） to assay the effect of cinnamaldehyde on human tongue carcinoma cell lines（Tca8113）, human buccal squamous carcinoma cell lines（BCaCD885）, human oral epithelial carcinoma KB cell in different concentrations. The final concentrations of cinnamaldehyde were from 8 to 256 mg·L-1, respectively. The cells were cultured in different concentrations, and the cinnamaldehyde continuously contacted with the cells for 24, 48 and 72 h, respectively, we compared the efficacy of cinnamaldehyde in different concentration groups during different time quantum. Differences between data obtained were statistically analyzed using analysis of variance（ANOVA） in SPSS 16.0.ResultsWhen the concentration of cinnamicaldehyde were from 32 to 256 mg·L-1, it had a significant inhibition on the proliferation of oral cancer cells in vitro, and with a increasing concentration of cinnamicaldehyde, the efficacy of inhibition became more significant, which showed an obvious dosage-efficacy relationship. When cinnamaldehyde acted 24 hours or its concentration was 16 mg·L-1, the inhibition rate was 58.33% for the human tongue squamous cell carcinoma cell line Tca8113; when the concentration was on the level of 32 mg·L-1, the inhibition rate were 66.08%, 76.61% respectively for human oral epithelial carcinoma KB cell and human buccal squamous carcinoma cell BCaCD885, respectively.ConclusionIn the medium-high（from 32 to 256 mg·L-1） concentrations of cinnamaldehyde showed remarkable cytostatic activity in terms of inhibition the proliferation of oral squamous carcinoma epithelial cell.
