Echinacea purpurea. Aerial Parts Contain Multiple Antiviral Compounds

Figures & data

Table 1a.. Echinacea purpurea. samples voucher numbers and codes for extracts.

E. purpurea. samples (UO voucher #)^a.	Water (40°C)	Water (80°C)	Ethanol (70%)	Hexane	Ethyl acetate	Aqueous residue
E. purpurea herb.^b. (UO # 010410-15)	SG 19	SG 20	SGEPH	SG 21	SG 22	SG 23
E. purpurea. flower^c. (UO 19182)	SG 24	SG 25	SGEPF	SG 26	SG 27	SG 28
E. purpurea. leaves & stem (UO # 010625-20)	SG 29	SG 30	SGEPLS	SG 31	SG 32	SG 33
(1b.) Echinacea purpurea. pressed juice and purified fractions.
SG 34: Crude pressed juice (UO19183) form E. purpurea.
SG 35: P50 fraction from SG 34, polysaccharides > 100 KDa
SG 36: AGP (arabino-galactan fraction) isolated by SEC 1 column from SG 35

^a.University of Ottawa voucher numbers.

^b.Source.: EPH-5, Sunfirst Herbs, 2000.

^c.Field K6, stage flower III, 1999.

Figure 1. Fractionation scheme for E. purpurea. herb. Numbers in boxes represent MIC₁₀₀ values (µg/ml) in the antiviral assays. HSV, herpes simplex virus; FV, influenza virus; P/S, presence of photosensitizer.

Table 2.. Minimum inhibition concentrations (MIC₁₀₀) (µg/ml) of total herb fractions from Echinacea purpurea. against herpes simplex virus (HSV) and influenza virus (FV) and presence of photosensitizer (photosens.) are presented. Green tea and red clover were used as negative and positive controls for photosensitizers.

	Anti-HSV activity		Anti-FV activity
Fraction^a.	MIC100^b.	Photosens.^c.	MIC100^b.	Photosens.^c.
SG 19 Water 40°C	12.5	−	15.6	−
SG 20 Water 80°C	6.2	−	23.5	−
SGEPH Ethanol 70%	3.5	+	5.8	+
SG 21 Hexane	−	−	−	−
SG 22 Ethyl acetate	1.5	+	23.6	+
SG 23 Aqueous residue	±	−	−	−
Green tea standard		−		−
Red clover standard		+		+

^a.Fractions refer to factionation scheme in Fig. 1.

^b.−: no activity detected; ±: marginal activity.

^c.+: ratio activity (light)/activity (dark) ≥8; −: ratio 0.5 − 4.0.

Table 3.. Phytochemical profiling by HPLC of Echinacea purpurea. extracts. The mean concentrations (µg/ml) of caftaric, chlorogenic (chlorog.), caffeic and cichoric acids, as well as cynarin, echinacoside (echin.) and tetraene 8/9 (tet. 8/9) are presented. (Relative Standard Deviation of analyses <5%).

Plant	Sample	Caftaric	Chlorog.	Caffeic	Cynarin	Cichoric	Echin.	Tet. 8/9
Herb	SG-19	12	0	39	0	18	0	0
	SG-20	457	0	111	0	156	0	0
	SGEPH	767	45	220	0	2879	0	0
	SG-21	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
	SG-22	0	0	0	0	0	0	25
	SG-23	426	11	33	0	162	0	0
Flower	SG-24	19	0	16	0	9	0	0
	SG-25	961	40	60	13	1293	0	0
	SGEPF	919	208	160	0	7340	0	39
	SG-26	969	25	179	0	2470	0	0
	SG-27	1212	126	130	0	6291	0	8
	SG-28	355	35	11	5	296	0	0
Leaf & stem	SG-29	105	63	13	0	12	0	0
	SG-30	762	0	181	0	489	0	0
	SGEPLS	913	45	421	5	6001	0	19
	SG-31	0	0	0	0	0	0	13
	SG-32	1174	0	259	0	3993	0	0
	SG-33	213	0	13	0	22	0	0

Table 4.. Minimum inhibition concentration (MIC₁₀₀) (µg/ml) of leaves and stem fractions from Echinacea purpurea. against herpes simplex virus simplex virus (HSV) and influenza virus (FV) and presence of photosensitizer (photosens.) are presented.

	Anti-HSV activity		Anti-FV activity
Fraction	MIC100^a.	Photosens.^b.	MIC100^a.	Photosens.^b.
SG 24 Water 40°C	12.5	−	1.5	−
SG 25 Water 80°C	1.5	−	7.8	−
SGEPF Ethanol 70%	6.2	+	2.9	+
SG 26 Hexane	−	−	−	−
SG 27 Ethyl acetate	12.5	+	31.2	+
SG 28 Aqueous residue	−	−	−	−

^a.−: no activity detected; ±: marginal activity.

^b.+: ratio activity (light)/activity (dark) ≥8;−: ratio 0.5 − 4.0.

Table 5.. Minimum inhibition concentration (MIC₁₀₀) (µg/ml) of flower fractions from Echinacea purpurea. against herpes simplex virus (HSV) and influenza virus (FV) and presence of photosensitizer (photosens.) are presented.

	Anti-HSV activity		Anti-FV activity
Fraction	MIC100^a.	Photosens.^b.	MIC100^a.	Photosens.^b.
SG 29 Water 40°C	3.5	−	3.0	−
SG 30 Water 80°C	6.2	−	3.9	−
SGEPLS Ethanol 70%	125.0	nt	62.5	nt
SG 31 Hexane	−	−	−	−
SG 32 Ethyl acetate	100.0	nt	375	nt
SG 33 Aqueous residue	−	−	−	−

^a.−: no activity detected; ±: marginal activity.

^b.+: ratio activity (light)/activity (dark) ≥8;−: ratio 0.5 − 4.0.

^c.nt: not tested.