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...

OBJECTIVE To review the evidence supporting complementary and alternative medicine approaches to treatment and prevention of the common cold in adults. QUALITY OF EVIDENCE MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched from January 1966 to September 2009 combining the key words common cold or influenza with echinacea, garlic, ginseng, probiotics, vitamin C, and...

In this study, it was aimed to determine the effects of ginseng and echinacea on plasma levels of IL-10, TGF-β1, TNF-α in healthy rats. In this research, 48 male Fischer 344 rats were divided into three equal groups as Control (K), Ginseng (G) and Echinacea (E). The control group were fed the standart rat diet (Purina®) as ad libitum for 40 days, whereas G and E groups animals received the same...

Aging is a multifactorial process that leads to loss of function and the inability to adequately respond to external stress. There has been a global trend toward the use of natural phytochemicals present in natural sources as antioxidants and functional foods. The herb, Echinacea, is one of the most popular herbal medicines and has become one of the top-selling herbs of all time with billions o...

We studied the protective effects of Echinacea purpurea against radiation by evaluating changes in the peripheral blood cell count and peripheral blood antioxidant activity. E. purpurea administration had a suppressive effect on radiation-induced leukopenia, especially on lymphocytes and monocytes, and resulted in a faster recovery of blood cell counts. Mouse peripheral blood antioxidant activi...

The therapeutic use of medicinal plants such as Echinacea, ginseng and St. John’s wort has gained widespread acceptance in North America in the last two decades. Aeroponic cultivation of medicinal plants have shown great potential for producing root yields that are cleaner, more uniform and faster maturing than can be obtained using conventional soil-based methods. Two pilot-scale commercial A-...

The methanolic extract of the whole plant of Tephrosia pupurea, Linn. was subjected to find out its possible therapeutic utility to validate its folkloric use in native systems of medicine. The extract on application to spontaneous contractions in isolated rabbit jejunum preparations exerted a concentration dependent (0.003-3.0 mg/mL) relaxant effect. The extract also caused concentration depen...