Echinacea Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Echinacea, including details on echinacea purpurea, benefits, side-effects, herbal remedies.

Echinacea metabolism and drug interactions: The case for standardization of a complementary medicine.

Toselli F, Matthias A, Gillam EM

School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane 4072, Australia.

The herbal medicine, Echinacea, is used for treatment and prevention of upper respiratory tract infections. Among the phytochemicals found in Echinacea, the bioavailable alkylamides are thought to be the compounds responsible for its effects on the human immune system. Cytochrome P450 enzymes (P450s) appear to be the principal system responsible for the metabolism of Echinacea components and most of the main hepatic and some extrahepatic isoforms appear to be involved. Epoxide formation, N-dealkylation and hydroxylation are the main metabolic pathways mediated by P450s. Interactions with P450s determine the circulating concentrations and duration of action of these phytochemicals as well as any potential interactions with other chemicals. Most research to date has focused on the potential of Echinacea to interact with other drugs. Literature reports are equivocal and comparisons between studies are difficult as the phytochemical composition of the preparations examined is rarely assessed. Certain alkylamides containing a terminal acetylene appear to exert a time- and NADPH-dependent inhibition on the metabolism of other compounds. However as there are no industry standardization requirements, differences in the relative concentrations of individual alkylamides between preparations could alter the potential for interactions. A thorough phytochemical analysis of samples investigated is necessary in further studies so that sound conclusions can be drawn regarding the potential for inter-individual variation in pharmacokinetics and therapeutic effects and interactions with other chemicals. Moreover standardization of alkylamide content may allow the exploitation of beneficial interactions between alkylamide components to enhance the therapeutic effect of this widely used complementary medicine.

Published 18 June 2009 in Life Sci.
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Articles on Echinacea published 15 June 2009:

Reasons for referrals of children and adolescents to alternative medicine in southern Israel.   J Altern Complement Med, 15(6): 681-4.

OBJECTIVES: The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has increased over recent years. Little is known about the use of CAM by children and adolescents. The study objectives were to characterize reasons for referrals and types of therapy for children and adolescents who turned to a CAM clinic. DESIGN: An observational study with prospective collection of data through interviews with the parents conducted by the clinic triage physician using questionnaires. SUBJECTS: Parents of ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Clinical indications and perceived effectiveness of complementary and alternative medicine in departments of obstetrics in Germany: A questionnaire study.   Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol.

OBJECTIVE: Our earlier study on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) methods showed that acupuncture, homeopathy, and aromatherapy are available in most obstetrics departments in Germany but it did not evaluate the clinical indications for using CAM. The present study aimed to explore further the effectiveness of CAM use in obstetrics. STUDY DESIGN: We sent all departments of obstetrics in North Rhine-Westphalia a questionnaire designed to delineate their use of acupuncture, homeopathy, ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Echinacea published 11 June 2009:

Concomitant Use of Prescription Drugs and Dietary Supplements in Ambulatory Elderly People.   J Am Geriatr Soc.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze baseline data on concomitant use of prescription drugs and dietary supplements in elderly people from the Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory (GEM) Study, in which information was collected on all drugs and supplements used by participant. DESIGN: Cross-sectional correlation analysis. SETTING: GEM Study sites in California, Maryland, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. PARTICIPANTS: Three thousand seventy ambulatory individuals aged 75 and older enrolled between September 2000 and ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Echinacea published 3 June 2009:

Complementary and alternative medical therapies used by children with cancer treated at an Italian pediatric oncology unit.   Pediatr Blood Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Research has identified a growing use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) in the pediatric oncology setting and health care professionals should consider how they might interact with and/or be used in lieu of conventional treatment. The present study was designed to establish the prevalence of CAM usage at an Italian pediatric oncology department, and the reasons why patients used these unconventional therapies. PROCEDURE: This was an observational study involving ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Echinacea published 1 June 2009:

Induction of multiple pro-inflammatory cytokines by respiratory viruses and reversal by standardized Echinacea, a potent antiviral herbal extract.   Antiviral Res.

Several viruses associated with upper respiratory diseases have been shown to stimulate the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including chemokines, sometimes in the absence of viral cytopathology. We evaluated the ability of a standardized preparation of the popular herbal medicine Echinacea (Echinaforce((R)), an ethanol extract of herb and roots of E. purpurea, and containing known concentrations of marker compounds) to inhibit the viral induction of various cytokines in a line of human ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Effects of a standardized purified dry extract from Echinacea angustifolia on proliferation and interferon gamma secretion of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in dairy heifers.   Res Vet Sci.

This study was performed to ascertain whether a standardized extract from Echinacea angustifolia (Polinacea) affects proliferation and interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) secretion in bovine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). PBMC from six Holstein heifers were incubated with 0, 6.3, 20, 60, or 180mug/ml of the tested compound. Proliferation was stimulated by concanavalin A (ConA) or pokeweed-mitogen (PWM). Secretion of IFN-gamma was stimulated by ConA. All concentrations of Polinacea exerted ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Echinacea published 28 May 2009:

Direct metabolic fingerprinting of commercial herbal tinctures by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry.   Phytochem Anal.

INTRODUCTION: Tinctures are widely used liquid pharmaceutical preparations traditionally obtained by maceration of one or more medicinal plants in ethanol-water solutions. Such a process results in the extraction of virtually hundreds of structurally diverse compounds with different polarities. Owing to the large chemical diversity of the constituents present in the herbal tinctures, the analytical tools used for the quality control of tinctures are usually optimised only for the detection of ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Homeopathic Preparations of Quartz, Sulfur and Copper Sulfate Assessed by UV-Spectroscopy.   Evid Based Complement Alternat Med.

Homeopathic preparations are used in homeopathy and anthroposophic medicine. Although there is evidence of effectiveness in several clinical studies, including double-blinded randomized controlled trials, their nature and mode of action could not be explained with current scientific approaches yet. Several physical methods have already been applied to investigate homeopathic preparations but it is yet unclear which methods are best suited to identify characteristic physicochemical properties of ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

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