Synergistic immunomopharmacological effects of N-alkylamides in Echinacea purpurea herbal extracts

Chicca, Andrea; Raduner, Stefan; Pellati, Federica; Strompen, Thomas; Altmann, Karl-Heinz; Schoop, Roland; Gertsch, Jürg (2009). Synergistic immunomopharmacological effects of N-alkylamides in Echinacea purpurea herbal extracts. International immunopharmacology, 9(7-8), pp. 850-8. Amsterdam: Elsevier 10.1016/j.intimp.2009.03.006

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Echinacea purpurea extracts are used in the production of standardized herbal medicines for the prevention and treatment of upper respiratory infections. Unsaturated N-alkylamide lipids, the main constituent of E. purpurea and E. angustifolia preparations capable of activating the cannabinoid receptor type-2 (CB2) have been suggested to play a role as potential anti-inflammatory and immune-modulatory principles. Here we show that ethanolic E. purpurea radix and herba extracts produce synergistic pharmacological effects on the endocannabinoid system in vitro. Superadditive action of N-alkylamide combinations was seen at the level of intracellular calcium release as a function of CB2 receptor activation. Likewise, synergism of the radix and herba tinctures was observed in experiments measuring LPS-stimulated cytokine expression from human PBMCs. While the expression of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 was significantly superstimulated, the expression of the pro-inflammatory TNF-alpha protein was inhibited more strongly upon combination of the extracts. We show that N-alkylamides act in concert and exert pleiotropic effects modulating the endocannabinoid system by simultaneously targeting the CB2 receptor, endocannabinoid transport and degradation.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine

UniBE Contributor:

Gertsch, Jürg

ISSN:

1567-5769

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Factscience Import

Date Deposited:

04 Oct 2013 15:12

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:22

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.intimp.2009.03.006

PubMed ID:

19303464

Web of Science ID:

000267444800008

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/31622 (FactScience: 196253)

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