The aim of this open-label, fixed-sequence study was to investigate the potential of Echinacea purpurea, a commonly used botanical supplement, to interact with the boosted protease inhibitor darunavir-ritonavir. Fifteen HIV-infected patients receiving antiretroviral therapy including darunavir-ritonavir (600/100 mg twice daily) for at least 4 weeks were included. E. purpurea root extract capsul...

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...

BACKGROUND Echinacea purpurea stimulates the immune response and is promoted to reduce symptom severity and the duration of upper respiratory tract infections. We sought to determine the efficacy of a standardized preparation of E purpurea in reducing symptom severity and duration of the common cold. METHODS A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design was used. Patients received eit...

Background & Aim: Hydroxycinnamic acids are one of the most important bioactive substances of Echinacea drugs. These compounds possess immuno-enhancing activity and thus, total hydroxycinnamic acids are mostly used as the main criterion for quality control of Echinacea purpurea and its drugs.  Hence, the quality control of Echinacea requires to develo...

BACKGROUND: It is important to understand the efficacy of immunoregulatory materials, herbal remedies or probiotics, in different parts of immune system following vaccination with different tropism. OBJECTIVES: Aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Echinacea purpurea and a probiotic (protexin) on systemic and mucosal immune response in turkey. METHODS: A total of 288 1-day-old male tu...

Alcohol tinctures prepared from aged Echinacea roots are typically taken for preventing or treating upper respiratory infections, as they are purported to stimulate immunity in this context. The effects of long-term (> 1 year) dry storage on the capabilities of Echinacea spp. roots from mature individuals to modulate cytokine production are unknown. Using an older human adult model of influenza...

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...

Echinacea (Asteraceae), a North American genus of 11 recognized taxa (McGregor 1968), is of great economic and scientific interest. Three species, E. angustifolia DC. var. angustifolia, E. pallida (Nutt.) and E. purpurea (L.) Moench, show potential pharmacological activity (Bauer et al. 1988a; Bauer and Wagner 1991). Hydroalcoholic extracts of the roots of these three taxa stimulate phagocytosi...

Aim: This study aims to investigate the possible effects of aqueous Echinacea (E. Purpurea, whole plant) extract on Adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity in cancerous and non-cancerous human gastric and colon tissues. Materials and Methods: Thirty three cancerous and 33 non-cancerous human gastric tissues, and 25 cancerous and non-cancerous human colon tissues removed by surgical operations were s...