Herbal Chickweed Antimicrobial effects

Chickweed is a cool-season annual plant often eaten by chickens., genus S. media, belonging to the family Caryophyllaceae, native to Europe. The herb has been used in herbal medicine to treat skin conditions, indigestion, eczema, cough, rashes, etc. and as astringent, carminative, demulcent, diuretic, expectorant, laxative, refrigerant, vulnerary agent.

Chemical constituents(a)(b)
1. Igenin 6-C-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-8-C-alpha-L-arabinopyranoside
2. Apigenin 6-C-alpha-L-arabinopyranosyl-8-C-beta-D-galactopyranoside
3. Apigenin 6-C-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-8-C-beta-L-arabinopyranoside
4. Apigenin 6-C-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-8-C-beta-D-galactopyranoside
5. Apigenin 6, 8-di-C-alpha-L-arabinopyranoside
6. Alkaloidal glycoside
7. Glucodichotomine B
8. Neolignan glycosides
9. Dichotomosides A, B, C, and D
10. Phenylpropanoid glycoside
11. Dichotomoside E
12. Saponins
13. Mucilage
14. PABA
15. Coumarin,
16. Flavonoids (rutin)
17. Hydroxycoumarin

HSV-2 is a member of the herpes virus family and can be spread through contact with saliva,
Stellarmedin A, a novel antiviral protein purified from Stellaria media, showed to inhibit the proliferative and peroxidase activities of HSV-2 protein, according to the study by the Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences(1). Homologous defensins, Sm-AMP-D1 and Sm-AMP-D2, were isolated from seeds of common chickweed Stellaria media, according to the Russian Academy of Sciences, which showed a strong inhibitory activity against phytopathogenic fungi and oomycetes and may be a potent promising for engineering pathogen resistance in crops(2). α-hairpin, a novel antifungal peptide isolated from Stellaria media seeds, also exhibited high broad-spectrum activity against fungal phytopathogens(3).

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References
(a) [Studies on chemical constituents from stellaria media. I].[Article in Chinese] by Dong Q1, Huang Y, Qiao SY.(PubMed)
(b) Bioactive constituents from Chinese natural medicines. XIV. New glycosides of beta-carboline-type alkaloid, neolignan, and phenylpropanoid from Stellaria dichotoma L. var. lanceolata and their antiallergic activities by Morikawa T1, Sun B, Matsuda H, Wu LJ, Harima S, Yoshikawa M.(PubMed)
(1) Purification and characterization of a novel anti-HSV-2 protein with antiproliferative and peroxidase activities from Stellaria media by Shan Y1, Zheng Y, Guan F, Zhou J, Zhao H, Xia B, Feng X.(PubMed)
(2) Isolation, molecular cloning and antimicrobial activity of novel defensins from common chickweed (Stellaria media L.) seeds by Slavokhotova AA1, Odintsova TI, Rogozhin EA, Musolyamov AK, Andreev YA, Grishin EV, Egorov TA.(PubMed)
(3) Novel antifungal α-hairpinin peptide from Stellaria media seeds: structure, biosynthesis, gene structure and evolution by Slavokhotova AA1, Rogozhin EA, Musolyamov AK, Andreev YA, Oparin PB, Berkut AA, Vassilevski AA, Egorov TA, Grishin EV, Odintsova TI.(PubMed)