Elecampane (Inula helenium)Processes Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activity in Vitro

By Kyle J. Norton

Antioxidants are stable atom that plays a critical role in protecting the body against the attack of free radicals.

In other words, antioxidants inhibited the onset of free radical before they can cause a chain reaction in facilitating the protein, lipid and cell damage.

Antioxidants can either produced by the liver or intake from dietary sources. Under normal conditions, antioxidant enzymes produced by the body in a healthy individual are good enough to counter the bombardment of free radical attacks.

However, in people with a weakened immune system, intake dietary sources of antioxidants may be necessary.

A free radical is a highly reactive atom with a single electron in the outer ring.

Free radicals produced in our body are a natural process derived either from essential metabolism through the processes of food intake or from external sources through directly contacting the skin or the air we breathe including exposure to X-rays, ozone, cigarette smoking, air pollutants, and industrial chemicals.

Some foods are antioxidant producers such as fruits and vegetables and whole-grain, while others such as processed meats, alcohol are radical producers. Particularly, fats and oils can easily be oxidized if they are cooked in high heat.

In order to counter the overexpression of free radicals which add to the body's burden, our body produces enzymes antioxidants and metal carrier proteins to neutralize them before they can cause damage.

Depending on the degrees of free radical invasion, antioxidant enzymes can be categorized into first, second, third and even fourth line of defense.

On finding a natural ingredient for the prevention and treatment of diseases associated with oxidative stress, scientists examined the effects of the polyphenol fraction (IvE) isolated from Elecampane on chronic diseases.

Elecampane, also known as Horse-heal (Inula helenium) is a perennial composite plant, genus nulla, belonging to Asteraceae, native to Southern Europe, and Asia. 

The plant has been used in traditional and herbal medicine in treating bronchitis or emphysema, night sweats, pulmonary tuberculosis, irritating cough, catarrhal discharges, etc.

According to tested analysis,
* The extract exerted a remarkable antioxidant activity according to the antioxidant capacity assays such as DPPH and ABTS.

* Furthermore, the extract also inhibited cell viability and mitochondrial redox activity of neuroblastoma, hepatoblastoma, and colon carcinoma cells.

* Moreover, the extract also induced the production of ROS to induced oxidative stress in cancer cells without harming the healthy cells.

Based on the results, researchers suggest, "The obtained results highlighted that inula leaves, nowadays even undervalued and unexplored, could be considered a renewable source of nutraceutical compounds".

Taken altogether, Elecampane may process antioxidant and cytotoxic properties against cancers, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) A nutraceutical extract from Inula viscosa leaves: UHPLC-HR-MS/MS based polyphenol profile, and antioxidant and cytotoxic activities by Brahmi-Chendouh N1, Piccolella S2, Crescente G2, Pacifico F2, Boulekbache L3, Hamri-Zeghichi S3, Akkal S4, Madani K3, Pacifico S. (PubMed)