Because of the popularity of Echinacea as a dietary supplement, researchers have been actively investigating which Echinacea constituent or groups of constituents are necessary for immune-modulating bioactivities. Our prior studies indicate that alkylamides may play an important role in the inhibition of prostaglandin E2 (PGE(2)) production. High-performance liquid chromatography fractionation,...

Since years ago, phytopharmaceutical drugs have been used by various societies, as a traditional treatment. Echinacea purpurea (Asteraceae) is the best known of the dozen or so species of the genus Echinacea, a group of perennial prairie wildflowers native to the central grasslands of North American. E. purpurea is cultivated widely throughout the United states, Canada and Europe, although it h...

Background Preparations from Echinacea are among the best-selling phytopharmaceuticals worldwide and have been widely used for the treatment of common cold and various upper respiratory infections. The most relevant active principles of Echinacea extracts are alkamides, caffeic acid derivatives (CADs) and glycoproteins/polysaccharides [1]. The main alkamides in Echinacea preparations are the is...

Background & Aim: This experiment was conducted to examine the effect of different levels of Echinacea purpurea (EP) in comparison with an antibiotic (flavofosfolipol) on total antioxidant activity (AOA) in serum of broiler chicks. Experimental: In this trial 240 one-day-old broiler chicks (Ross 308) were weighed and randomly assigned to the 5 treatment groups, each with 4 re...

Our previous studies indicate that the majority of in vitro monocyte/macrophage activation exhibited by extracts of Echinacea depends on bacterial components. In the present study, total bacterial load was determined within E. purpurea samples and ranged from 6.4 × 10(6) to 3.3 × 10(8) bacteria/g of dry plant material. To estimate total bacterial load, we developed a PCR-based quantification me...

Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench, a member of the Asteraceae family, is a plant rich in flavonoids, essential oils, phenolic compounds, saponins, polysaccharides and glycoproteins. The aim of the study was to evaluate the protein content in dried roots of Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench after homogenization of roots with liquid nitrogen, extraction in 0.01 mol L-1 phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) a...

Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench, Asteraceae, a native of North America is among the most frequently utilized Echinacea spp. for medicinal, cosmetic, and beverage preparations. Most of the echinacea preparations in the industry originate from wild harvesting and few from non-standardized (unregulated) cultivation and harvesting. According to the recent reports (Brevoort 1996), echinacea preparati...

Peptic ulcer is a common disorder of the stomach and duodenum. Herbs and medicinal plants are considered to be a potential source to combat various diseases including gastric ulcer. The present study was conducted to evaluate the gastro protective effects of Echinacea extract, Green tea extract and Boswellia extract on a pyloric ligation-induced gastric ulcer. Six groups of rats were intraperit...

BACKGROUND With a traditional medical use for treatment of various ailments, herbal preparations of Echinacea are now popularly used to improve immune responses. One likely mode of action is that alkamides from Echinacea bind to cannabinoid type 2 (CB2) receptors and induce a transient increase in intracellular Ca2+. Here, we show that unidentified compounds from Echinacea purpurea induce cytos...

Alkylamides present in Echinacea species have reported immunomodulatory actions, yet their direct effects on T lymphocytes, key mediators of antiviral immunity, are poorly understood. We hypothesized that constituents present in ethanolic extracts of Echinacea species exert direct immunomodulatory effects on human Jurkat T cells. Modulation of IL-2 production by submaximally stimulated Jurkat c...