In our search for new antiplasmodial agents, the CH₂Cl₂/CH₃OH (1:1) extract of the roots of Tephrosia aequilata was investigated, and observed to cause 100% mortality of the chloroquine-sensitive (3D7) strain of Plasmodium falciparum at a 10 mg/mL concentration. From this extract three new chalconoids, E-2',6'-dimethoxy-3',4'-(2'',2''-dimethyl)pyranoretrochalcone (1, aequichalcone A), Z-2',6'-d...

While radiation hazards, due to free radical generation, present an enormous challenge for biological and medical safety, Echinacea purpurea is a potent scavenger of a variety of free radicals. The aim of this study was to investigate the radioprotective effect of Echinacea purpurea against oxidative stress in spleen tissues and alterations in some immune responses. Rats were whole body irradia...

The aim of this open-label, fixed-sequence study was to investigate the potential of the botanical supplement Echinacea purpurea to interact with etravirine, a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor of HIV. Fifteen HIV-infected patients receiving antiretroviral therapy with etravirine (400 mg once daily) for at least 4 weeks were included. E. purpurea root/extract-containing capsules wer...

Echinacea preparations, which are used for the prevention and treatment of upper respiratory infections, account for 10% of the dietary supplement market in the U.S., with sales totaling more than $100 million annually. In an attempt to shed light on Echinacea's mechanism of action, we evaluated the effects of a 75% ethanolic root extract of Echinacea purpurea, prepared in accord with industry ...

The effect of aqueous extract of Echinacea purpurea roots on the murine antibody response to Bothrops asper snake venom in vivo was studied. Three groups were used. Group #1, baseline control, was treated with snake venom plus PBS. Group #2 was treated with snake venom plus sodium alginate as adjuvant (routine method used at Instituto Clodomiro Picado), and group #3 or experimental group, was t...

In this study, the genetic diversity and structure of 13 natural locations of Salix purpurea were determined with the use of AFLP (amplified length polymorphism), RAPD (randomly amplified polymorphic DNA) and ISSR (inter-simple sequence repeats). The genetic relationships between 91 examined S. purpurea genotypes were evaluated by analyses of molecular variance (AMOVA), principal coordinates an...

In order to assess the immunopathological effects of aqueous Echinacea purpurea extract (EPE) on mice experimentally challenged with Pasteurella multocida serotype A, forty female BALB/c mice were randomly divided into four groups. The groups included a control group (received sterile distilled water 2 times/week for 2 weeks, intraperitoneally and then 100 µl sterile saline intranasally), a PMA...

Bauhinia purpurea is a flowering plant. Several species of this plant are known to possess pharmacological activities. It is a less explored plant, but it possesses phytoconstituents such as flavonoids which are purported to exhibit wide pharmacological activities. In the present study the ethanol extract of unripe pods and leaves of Bauhinia purpurea was evaluated for antihyperlipidemic activi...

BACKGROUND Aneuploid ermpglasm is an important resource for genetic studies and identification of individual chromosomes in the cells of the aneuploid is an important step. The karyotype has already been established for purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea L.), but due to the high similarity in the morphology of several pairs of chromosomes in this species, it cannot be used to identify indivi...

We examined the epiphytic microbiome of cereal grain using the universal barcode chaperonin-60 (cpn60). Microbial community profiling of seed washes containing DNA extracts prepared from field-grown cereal grain detected sequences from a fungus identified only to Class Sordariomycetes. To identify the fungal sequence and to improve the reference database, we determined cpn60 sequences from fiel...