ArticleFood and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association2026
Immune system evaluation of Echinacea Purpurea root extract in female Harlan Sprague Dawley (Hsd:Sprague Dawley SD) rats.
Article in Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Echinacea is commonly used as a dietary supplement owing to its putative anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and antibacterial activities. Unfortunately, determining risk posed to human health is challenging. A novel combination of chemical and biological characterization was employed for selection of a representative extract sample used for in vivo investigation of the immunomodulatory properties of Echinacea (E.) purpurea. In vitro cytokine profiling showed the extract could stimulate pro-inflammatory cytokine production in the absence of detectable endotoxin. An in-depth in vivo evaluation of the immune response following a 28-day oral exposure to the selected E. purpurea extract was conducted in adult Harlan Sprague Dawley (HSD) female rats at doses up to 2000 mg/kg/day. There was no evidence that E. purpurea caused overt toxicity or effects on humoral immunity. However, cell-mediated immunity was increased but only at low doses and with no evidence of a dose-response. In addition, E. purpurea treatment enhanced natural killer cell activity and the relative percentage of macrophages/monocytes in the spleen of rats from the highest treatment group. These results suggest that E. purpurea may have immunomodulatory properties that support antiviral and antibacterial activity but may also foster an immunostimulatory environment that could exacerbate some immune-mediated conditions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.