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| by an external trauma. It is a sequential reaction to cell injury designed to neutralize the inflammatory agent, remove dead' tissue and establish an environment suitable for healing and repair. However, inflammation can also be endogenously mediated, generated internally in response to negative chemical reactions that can occur as a result of poor diet, unhealthy lifestyle and other similar factors. There are various mechanisms at play in the inflammatory response. Echmacea has a mediating effect on many of them. |
| Much of echinacea's anti-inflammatory activity is due to its ability to inhibit hyaluronidase, the enzyme that breaks down hyaluronic acid as previously described. Various authors have described echinacea as having "cortisone-like activity," presumably related to its anti-hyaluronidase effect.8 There are two other key enzymes involved with inflammatory responses, one is cyclooxygenase, the other is 5-lipoxygenase. Both enzymes utilize arachidonic acid to create powerful inflammatory mediators known as prostaglandins (PGE 2). Inflammatory prostaglandins are associated with a wide variety of chronic inflammatory conditions including migraine headaches, certain forms of arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome and some nervous disorders. |
| German researchers found that the alkymide fractions common to most echinacea species have an inhibitory effect on both 5-lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase, while the isobutylamide fraction of E. angustifolia was slightly less potent.28 Some Italian researchers have focused on the anti-inflammatory activity of the water-soluble polysaccharides in external preparations,1820 while others have identified antihyaluronidase activity in several caffeic acid derivatives (chicoric acid, cynarin, caffaric acid and chlorogenic |
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