Journal
PHARMACEUTICAL BIOLOGY
Volume 41, Issue 6, Pages 412-420Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1076/phbi.41.6.412.17828
Keywords
antifungal; 5-lipoxygenase; antiinflammatory; Echinacea
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The antifungal activity and 5-lipoxygenase-inhibiting activity of extracts of five wild and three commercially used taxa of the genus Echinacea were investigated. The near-UV mediated antifungal bioassays included clinically isolated Cryptococcus neoformans, two Candida albicans isolates (D10 and CN1A) with amphotericin B resistance, as well as established and emerging filamentous fungal pathogens (Trichophyton tonsurans, T mentagrophytes, Microsporum gypseum and Pseudallescheria boydii). Root extracts of the eight Echinacea taxa showed antifungal activity against most of the pathogenic fungi. The inhibition of the 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) enzyme of the arachadonic acid pathway was determined by HPLC detection of a direct metabolic product (LTB4) of 5-LOX derived from stimulated rat basophilic cells. Root extracts of the three commercial species of Echinacea (E. purpurea, E. pallida var. angust folia, E. pallida var. pallida) inhibited the 5-LOX enzyme. E. pallida var. angustifolia was the most potent of the three. The results show that Echinacea spp. have significant antifungal and antiinflammatory activity.
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