Garcinia extract, a tropical plant, may be effective for pneumonia and other problems that arise during coronavirus infection due to an overreaction of the immune system, specialists from the University of Huddersfield noted.
According to TASS, this plant has long been used in African folk medicine as an antiparasitic agent and a medicine against bronchitis. The analysis showed that the plant contains several powerful anti-inflammatory substances.
The authors of the new study used ground garcinia seeds to suppress symptoms of COVID-19. With the extract of the plant obtained from the seeds, the scientists treated the cultures of human cells infected with the coronavirus. It turned out that even small doses of the extract were enough to significantly reduce the production of IL-6 and TNF-a proteins, as well as other pro-inflammatory compounds.
Their concentration dropped by about 45%, which is comparable to the effect of dexamethasone and other strong anti-inflammatory drugs. In addition to treating the symptoms of COVID-19, scientists propose using the extract as part of therapy and other diseases that are accompanied by the development of the so-called cytokine storm - a deadly immune response accompanied by an abnormally strong inflammatory response.
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