Anti-inflammatory effects of essential oil in Echinacea purpurea L.

ABSTRACT

Echinacea purpurea L. is a medicinal plant originally from North America. It has become a commonly used herbal medicine worldwide because it contains various biologically active compounds. This study was designed to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of essential oils from E. purpurea in both mice and rats. The extract was obtained from flower of E. purpurea by steam distillation. The anti-inflammatory potential was evaluated in vivo by using different animal models such as xylene-induced mouse ear edema, egg-white-induced rat paw edema, and cottoninduced granuloma tissue proliferating inflammation in mice. The serial dosages were used in vivo the low dosage, the medium dosage and the high dosage. The low, medium and high dosages of extracts produced inhibitions of 39.24%, 47.22% and 44.79% respectively in the ear edema induced by xylene when compare with the control group. Only the high dosage group showed statistically significant inhibition [48.51%] of paw edema formation induced three hours by egg white compared with the control group [P<0.01]. Moreover, the granulation formation was also significantly reduced the most by 28.52% in the high dose groups compared with the control group [P <0.05]. The pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-2, IL-6 and TNF-alpha in the blood were reduced in the treated groups. The essential oils from extracts of E. purpurea have anti-inflammatory effects