Antiviral drug resistance is one of the most common problems in medicine, and, therefore, finding new antiviral agents, especially from natural resources, seems to be necessary. This study was designed to assay the antiviral activity of curcumin and its new derivatives like gallium-curcumin and Cu-curcumin on replication of HSV-1 in cell culture. The research was performed as an in vitro study in which the antiviral activity of different concentrations of three substances including curcumin, Gallium-curcumin and Cu-curcumin were tested on HSV-1. The cytotoxicity of the tested compounds was also evaluated on the Vero cell line. The CC 50 values for curcumin, gallium-curcumin and Cu-curcumin were 484.2 µg/mL, 255.8 µg/mL and 326.6 µg/mL, respectively, and the respective IC 50 values 33.0 µg/mL, 13.9 µg/mL and 23.1 µg/mL. The calculated SI values were 14.6, 18.4 and 14.1, respectively. The results showed that curcumin and its new derivatives have remarkable antiviral effects on HSV-1 in cell culture.

Collagen is the predominant protein in animal connective tissues and is widely used in tissue regeneration and other industrial applications. Marine organisms have gained interest as alternative, nonmammalian collagen sources for biomaterial applications because of potential medical and economic advantages. In this work, we present physicochemical and biofunctionality studies of acid solubilized collagen (ASC) from jellyfish Catostylus mosaicus (JASC), harvested from the Persian Gulf, compared with ASC from rat tail tendon (RASC), the industry-standard collagen used for biomedical research. From the protein subunit (alpha chain) pattern of JASC, we identified it as a type I collagen, and extensive molecular spectroscopic analyses showed similar triple helical molecular signatures for JASC and RASC. Atomic force microscopy of fibrillized JASC showed clear fibril reassembly upon pH neutralization though with different temperature and concentration dependence compared with RASC. Molecular (natively folded, nonfibrillized) JASC was shown to functionalize rigid substrates and promote MC3T3 preosteoblast cell attachment and proliferation better than RASC over 6 days. On blended collagen–agarose scaffolds, both RASC and JASC fibrils supported cell attachment and proliferation, and scaffolds with RASC fibrils showed more cell growth after 6 days compared with those scaffolds with JASC fibrils. These results demonstrate the potential for this new type I collagen as a possible alternative to mammalian type I collagen for biomaterial applications.