Activation of Cellular Immunity in Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1‐Infected Mice by the Oral Administration of Aqueous Extract of Moringa oleifera Lam. Leaves

Abstract

Moringa oleifera Lam. is used as a nutritive vegetable and spice. Its ethanol extract has been previously shown to be significantly effective in alleviating herpetic skin lesions in mice. In this study, we evaluated the alleviation by the aqueous extract (AqMOL) and assessed the mode of its anti-herpetic action in a murine cutaneous herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection model. AqMOL (300 mg/kg) was administered orally to HSV-1-infected mice three times daily on days 0 to 5 after infection. AqMOL significantly limited the development of herpetic skin lesions and reduced virus titers in the brain on day 4 without toxicity. Delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction to inactivated HSV-1 antigen was significantly stronger in infected mice administered AqMOL and AqMOL augmented interferon (IFN)-γ production by HSV-1 antigen from splenocytes of HSV-1-infected mice at 4 days post-infection. AqMOL administration was effective in elevating the ratio of CD11b(+) and CD49b(+) subpopulations of splenocytes in infected mice. As DTH is a major host defense mechanism for intradermal HSV infection, augmentation of the DTH response by AqMOL may contribute to their efficacies against HSV-1 infection. These results provided an important insights into the mechanism by which AqMOL activates cellular immunity. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Biological, nutritional, and therapeutic significance of Moringa oleifera Lam

“…Ethanolic extract of leaves showed significant antiviral activity against infectious bursal disease virus (Ahmad et al, ), foot and mouth disease virus, equine herpes virus, hepatitis virus, and rhinovirus (Younus et al, ). Leaf aqueous extract activated the cellular immunity in infected mice with HSV‐1 by decreasing the infection rate and reducing herpetic skin lesion growth (Kurokawa et al, ). Aqueous seed extract showed potential antiviral activity against Newcastle disease virus (Chollom et al, ).…”

Protective Effects of Moringa oleifera on HBV Genotypes C and H Transiently Transfected Huh7 Cells

“…Probably, the reduction observed in the pgRNA of genotype H was not enough to reduce the rate of replication of the virus, but the antifibrotic and antioxidant effects deduced by the changes in CTGF , TGFβ , and CAT gene expressions with M. oleifera treatment support the fact that Moringa might be used as a valuable nutritional supplement for patients with chronic hepatitis B. There are additional studies, both in vivo and in vitro , reporting effects of M. oleifera in different viruses, like herpes simplex virus type 1 [ 20 ], Epstein-Barr virus [ 21 ], Newcastle disease virus [ 22 ], and infectious bursal disease virus [ 23 ]. Nevertheless, the complete elucidation of the molecular mechanisms driving M. oleifera action remains to be defined.…”

In vitro antiviral activity of BanLec against herpes simplex viruses type 1 and 2

“…A rapid and sensitive procedure to evaluate antiviral compounds in vitro is based on spectrophotometrical assessment for the viability of virus-infected and mockinfected cells via in situ reductions of a tetrazolium dye by MTT as per the method described (Kurokawa et al, 2016).…”