Modulation of apoptosis in mice treated with Echinacea and St. John's wort.

Apoptosis, or programmed cell death (PCD), is a physiological active cellular suicide process that occurs in non-contiguous cells, and is usually not associated with inflammation. The apoptotic process can be modulated by various stimuli, including hormones, cytokines, growth factors, and some chemotherapeutic agents. To determine whether Echinacea purpurea and Hypericum perforatum are able to regulate the process of apoptosis in vivo and to define the role of the Fas-Ag and Bcl-2 signal transduction cascade, we have orally treated groups of mice with these vegetable drugs for 14 days. The splenic lymphocytes from mice treated with E. purpurea and H. perforatum at the two dose levels used (30 and 100 mg kg(-1) per day) were shown to be significantly more resistant to apoptosis than those from mice treated only with the vehicle. In addition, mice treated with the natural substances showed a decrease in Fas-Ag expression and an increase in Bcl-2 expression. In conclusion, our results shown that in vivo the studied drugs modulate apoptosis in mice splenic lymphocytes and that this action could be mediated in part by a decrease in Fas-Ag expression and in part by an increase in Bcl-2 expression.