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Biosafety and Toxicological Evaluation of Tissue-Cultured Echinacea purpurea Adventitious Roots
Hosakatte Niranjana Murthy12
,
So-Young Park1
,
Eun Jeong Lee1
,
Kee Yoeup Paek1*
1Research Center for the Development of Advanced Horticultural Technology, Chungbuk National University
2Department of Botany, Karnatak University
*교신저자. *Corresponding Author. 
28 February 2015. pp. 124-132
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Abstract

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.

Keywords
Echinacea
medicinal plant
mutagenicity
natural product
toxicology

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Information
  • Publisher :KOREAN SOCIETY FOR HORTICULTURAL SCIENCE
  • Publisher(Ko) :한국원예학회
  • Journal Title :Horticultural Science and Technology
  • Journal Title(Ko) :원예과학기술지
  • Volume : 33
  • No :1
  • Pages :124-132
  • Received Date : 2014-06-08
  • Revised Date : 2014-08-19
  • Accepted Date : 2014-09-17
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.7235/hort.2015.14103
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