• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.124-132
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• 2015

Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench (purple cone flower) is an important medicinal plant; it can enhance immunity, relieve pain, and reduce inflammation, and also has hormonal, antiviral, and antioxidant effects. Adventitious root biomass of Echinacea purpurea was produced in commercial-scale bioreactors for use as a dietary supplement in the food industry and in traditional medicine. Biosafety and toxicological evaluations of tissue-cultured Echinacea purpurea adventitious roots (TCEPARs) were performed. Reverse mutation and chromosomal aberration tests showed no significant mutagenicity. Furthermore, repeated four-week oral dose tests performed in Sprague-Dawley rats did not show any notable changes in the general behavior of the rats, in the gross appearance of their internal organs, or in their mortality rate. There were no differences between the control group and the treatment group in parameters such as absolute body weight, hematology, blood chemistry, and absolute and relative organ weights. These findings indicate that TCEPARs are safe and nontoxic when consumed at an average dietary level and can be used as raw material for traditional medicine and the food industry.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.107-111
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• 2009

This experiment was conducted to select optimum hydroponic systems for clean and mass production for shoot and root of Echinacea. E. purpurea and E. angustifolia. were grown at 5 different kinds of hydroponic systems; NFT, modified NFT, DFT, aeroponics, and Ebb & Flow for 150 days. The lowest photosynthetic rate and transpiration rate were in Ebb & Flow system in E. purpurea and E. angustifolia at 120 days after transplanting. The shoot fresh and dry weight were high in aeroponic and DFT system of E. angustifolia and in aeroponic and NFT system of E. purpurea at 150 days after transplanting. The root fresh and dry weight of both species were the highest in aeroponic system and next to modified NFT system. They were increased in NFT and Ebb & Flow system for the root length and in aeroponic system for the number of tillering. The results demonstrate that aeroponic system was the most effective for enhancement shoot and root biomass of Echinacea spp. in hydroponics.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.309-314
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• 2004

The cytotoxic effects of water and ethanol extracts of Echinacea purpurea (L.) (EP) and chloroform, ethyl acetate, butanol and aqueous fractions from each extract of EP were examined. Every extract and fraction of EP inhibited the growth of human hepatocarcinoma, human gastric cancer cell, human breast cancer cells and human lung carcunoma in concentration-dependent manners over a concentration range of $0.05{\sim}1.0\;mg/ml$. Most extracts and fractions with the concentraction of 1 mg/ml showed strong inhibition of more than 70% for every cancer cell. Only aqueous fractions of each extract showed very weak inhibitons of 12 to 25% on the growth of human normal lung cell with the concentration of 1 mg/ml. Overall selectivity of the extrats and fractions on the four human cancer cell lines was over 2.5. These results indicate that EP has a very potent selective toxicity for cancer cells.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.51-57
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• 2002

The biological activities of immune modulating activities of the extracts from Echinacea purpurea, Chrysanthmum indicum L. and Circium japonicum var. ussuriense KITAMURA were compared. About 70% of the growth of human hepatocarcinoma and 80% of human gastric cancer cell was inhibited in adding 0.5mg/ml of the ethanol extracts of Echinacea purpurea, Chrysanthmum indicum L. and Circium japonicum var. ussuriense KITAMURA, respectively. The growth of human breast cancer cells was also inhibited in adding 0.5mg/ml of the extracts as well as 60% of the human cancer cells. It was proved that the growth of human normal lung cell, scored as 15% for the extracts. Overall selectivity of the extracts on several human cancer cell line was over 3, which is higher than those from the conventional herbs. The growth of both human immune B and T cells was enhanced up to 1.4 to 2.0 times by adding the extracts, compared to the controls. The secretion of tumor necrosis $factor-alpha(TNF-{\alpha})$ from T cell was also increased up to 94 pg/ml in adding the Echinacea purpurea ethanol extract (0.5mg/ml). Circium japonicum var. ethanol extract also increased up to about 96 pg/ml of interleukin-6(IL-6) from B cell.