The pressed juice of purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) can help relieve the effects of restraint stress, according to the authors of a study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food. The study reveals that this effect also reverses the negative impacts of restraint stress on the immune response.
The researchers put mice through restraint stress.
The animals were fed pressed purple coneflower juice.
The researchers noted that the treatment normalized the decreases in splenocyte proliferation and the cell activity of natural killer (NK). These reductions were caused by restraint stress.
The treatment also caused an increase in the percentages of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes in the blood.
Lastly, the purple coneflower juice restored serum cytokine levels, including interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10), and interleukin-17 (IL-17), as well as the mRNA expressions of these cytokines in the spleen.
The researchers concluded that purple coneflower has a beneficial effect against the suppression of the immune response by restraint stress.
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Journal Reference:
Park S, Lee M-S, Jung S, Lee S, Kwon O, Kreuter MH, Perrinjaquet-Moccetti T, Min B, Yun SH, Kim Y. ECHINACEA PURPUREA PROTECTS AGAINST RESTRAINT STRESS-INDUCED IMMUNOSUPPRESSION IN BALB/C MICE. Journal of Medicinal Food. 1 March 2018; 21(3):261–268. DOI: 10.1089/jmf.2017.4073