Flavonoids echinacea

The three most widely used species of Echinacea are Echinacea purpurea, E pallida, and E angustifolia. The chemical constituents include flavonoids, lipophilic constituents (eg, alkamides, polyacetylenes), water-soluble polysaccharides, and water-soluble caffeoyl conjugates (eg, echinacoside, chicoric acid, caffeic acid). Within any marketed echinacea formulation, the relative amounts of these components are dependent upon the species used, the method of manufacture, and the plant parts used. Epurpurea has been the most widely studied in clinical trials. Although the active constituents of echinacea are not completely known, chicoric acid from E purpurea and echinacoside from E pallida and E angustifolia, as well as alkamides and polysaccharides, are most often noted as having immune-modulating properties. Most commercial formulations, however, are not standardized for any particular constituent. 

The three most widely used species of Echinacea are Echinacea purpurea, Epallida, and E angustifolia. The chemical constituents include flavonoids, lipophilic constituents (eg, alkamides,... 

Echinacea species (coneflower, black Sampson hedgehog, Indian head, snakeroot, red sunflower, scurvy root) have become increasingly popular, particularly for the prophylaxis and treatment and prevention of cold and flu symptoms. However, the claimed efficacy of Echinacea in the common cold has not been confirmed in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (20) or a systematic review (21). Echinacea is claimed to have antiseptic and antiviral properties and is under investigation for its immunostimulant action. The active ingredients are glycosides (echinacoside), polysaccharides, alkamides, and flavonoids. 

Flavonoid Drugs Including Ginkgo Biloba and Echinaceae Species... 

Flavonoid Drugs Including Ginkgo Bilaba and Echinaceae Species 227... 

Flavonoid Drugs Including Ginlcgo Biloba and Echinaceae Species 229... 

Nature Leaves and roots of echinacea species (eg, E purpurea) contain flavonoids, polyacetylenes, and caffeoyl conjugates. 

Malonga-Makosi J-P (1983) Untersuchung der Flavonoide von Echinacea angustifolia DC und Echinacea purpurea MOENCH, PhD Thesis, Universitat Heidelberg... 

Three species of Echinacea are in medicinal use Echinacea ( .) purpurea E. angustifolia and . pallida. Depending on the species, the part of the plant (roots, herb) and the method of extraction (hydrophilic, lipophilic), the commercially available preparations of Echinacea contain varying concentrations of flavonoids, essential oils, polysaccharides, derivates of caffeic acid, polyacetylenes, alkylamides and alkaloids. Apart from a very few exceptions these preparations are not standardized in their content of any of these substances. The evidence available so far indicates that it is not a single component but the mixture of various groups of substances which is responsible for the observed immunomodulatory effects [5]. 

Echinacea Improve immune system Alkylamides, flavonoids... 

Misidentification of source plants involved in chemical analysis before 1986, except for authenticated cultivated E. purpurea, renders earlier chemical studies unreliable. Components attributed to E. angustifolia, which may instead have involved E. pallida, include flavonoid components of the leaves essential oil constituents, including echinolone, humu-lene, caryophyllene epoxide, and various polyacetylene components. Four sesquiterpene esters (cinnamates of echinadiol, epox-yechinadiol, echinaxanthol, and dUiydroxy-nardol) attributed to E. purpurea in fact do not occur in Echinacea but are constituents of Parthenium integrifolium. Chemical work by R. Bauer and coworkers at Munich and Diisseldorf now makes distinction of source species in commercial supplies possible. 

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