ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE The genus Echinacea is a popular herbal immunomodulator. Recent reports indicate that Echinacea products inhibit nitric oxide (NO) production in activated macrophages. AIM OF THE STUDY In the present study we determined the inhibitory effects of alcohol extracts and individual fractions of alcohol extracts of Echinacea on NO production, and explored the mechanis...

BACKGROUND Extracts and products (roots and/or aerial parts) from Echinacea ssp. represent a profitable market sector for herbal medicines thanks to different functional features. Alkamides and polyacetylenes, phenols like caffeic acid and its derivatives, polysaccharides and glycoproteins are the main bioactive compounds of Echinacea spp. This study aimed at investigating the capacity of selec...

Plants have evolved the strategy to produce bioactive natural products as a means of defence against herbivores and microbes. Some plants produce toxins that can severely damage or kill a herbivore. The molecular mode of action of neurotoxins, cytotoxins, metabolic poisons, mutagens and toxins that affect skin and mucosal tissues are summarised and discussed. Important poisonous plants of Europ...

Studies were carried out on the effects of polyunsaturated fats on lipid metabolism in 11 patients with hypertriglyceridemia. During cholesterol balance studies performed in eight patients, the feeding of polyunsaturated fats, as compared with saturated fats, caused an increased excretion of endogenous neutral steroids, acidic steroids, or both in most patients. Increases in steroid excretions...

A novel class of lipids, N-acyltaurines, was recently discovered in fatty acid amide hydrolase knockout mice. In some peripheral tissues, such as liver and kidney, N-acyltaurines with long, polyunsaturated acyl chains are most prevalent. Polyunsaturated fatty acids are converted to a variety of signaling molecules by cyclooxygenases (COXs) and lipoxygenases (LOXs). The ability of COXs and LOXs ...

Nucleotide pyrophosphatases/phosphodiesterases (NPPs) are ubiquitous membrane-associated or secreted ectoenzymes that release nucleoside 5'-monophosphate from a variety of nucleotides and nucleotide derivatives. The mammalian NPP family comprises seven members, but only three of these (NPP1-3) have been studied in some detail. Previously we showed that lysophospholipase D, which hydrolyzes lyso...

Several previous studies reported that sn-2 acyl lysophosphatidylcholines (LPCs) undergo rapid isomerization due to acyl migration, especially at physiological pH and temperature. However, these studies have been carried out using mostly sn-2 palmitoyl LPC, whereas the naturally occurring sn-2 LPCs are predominantly unsaturated. In this study, we investigated the acyl migration in four naturall...

N-acylethanolamines (NAEs) are bioactive fatty acid derivatives that occur in all eukaryotes. In plants, NAEs have potent negative growth-regulating properties, and fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH)-mediated hydrolysis is a primary catabolic pathway that operates during seedling establishment to deplete these compounds. Alternatively, polyunsaturated (PU)-NAEs may serve as substrates for lipid ...

Background: Plant N-alkylamides (NAAs) are bio-active compounds with a broad functional spectrum. In order to reach their pharmacodynamic targets, they have to overcome several barriers of the body in the absorption phase. The permeability kinetics of spilanthol (a diene NAA) and pellitorine (a triene NAA) across these barriers (i.e. skin, oral/gut mucosa, bloodbrain barrier) were investigated....