High-potency Anti-influenza Therapy by a Combination of Echinacea purpurea fresh herb and root tinctures.
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Date
2013-12
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Abstract
The medicinal plant Echinacea purpurea (EP) contains potent antiviral and anti-inflammatory activities, which
are believed to be responsible for the efficacy of such preparations in the treatment of colds and ‘flu. To
determine to what extent the processes of drying, composition and extraction could affect this efficacy, different
parts of fresh and dried EP plants: herb, root, flower heads and petals, were separately extracted and evaluated for
activity against Influenza virus. Maximal activity was obtained from freshly extracted herb, while root extracts
showed no such activity. The observed antiviral activity did not correlate with the total dry mass, or the cichoric
acid, rutoside, total phenols or alkylamide content. The latter however appears to be responsible for the antiinflammatory
effects of the root extracts. Thus, the parallel extraction of antiviral and anti-inflammatory
substances from fresh EP herb and root could represent an optimized combination for the treatment of influenza
infections.
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Keywords
Echinacea purpurea, influenza virus, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, extraction, dried & fresh herb
Citation
Selvarani Vimalanathan, Roland Schoop, James Hudson. High-potency Anti-influenza Therapy by a Combination of Echinacea purpurea fresh herb and root tinctures. Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science. 2013 Dec; 3(12): 1-5.