Antiviral Effect of Korean Red Ginseng Extract and Ginsenosides on Murine Norovirus and Feline Calicivirus as Surrogates for Human Norovirus

Abstract

Korean red ginseng has been studied various biological activities such as immune, anti-oxidative, anti-microbial, and anticancer activities but antiviral mechanism needs further studies. In this study, we aimed to examine the antiviral effects of Korea red ginseng extract and ginsenosides on norovirus surrogate, including murine norovirus (MNV) and feline calicivirus (FCV). We evaluated the pre-, co-, and post-treatment effects of Korean red ginseng (KRG), ginsenosides Rb1 and Rg1. To measure the antiviral effect and cytotoxicity of KRG extract, and ginsenosides Rb1 and Rg1, we treated Crandell-Reese Feline Kidney for FCV or RAW264.7 cells for MNV with concentrations of 0, 5, 6.7, 10, 20 ug/mL total saponin. There was cytotoxic effect in the highest concentration 20 ug/mL of KRG extract so this concentration was excluded in this study. The FCV titer was significantly reduced to 0.23-0.83 log10 50% tissue culture infectious dose (TCID50)/mL in groups pre-treated with red ginseng extract or ginsenosides. The titer of MNV was significantly reduced to 0.37-1.48 log10 TCID50/mL in groups pre-treated with red ginseng extract or ginsenosides. However, there was no observed antiviral effect in groups co-treated or post-treated with KRG and its constituents. Our data suggest that KRG extract has an antiviral effect against norovirus surrogates. The antiviral mechanisms of KRG and ginsenosides should be addressed in future studies.

Comparison of the antiviral activity of flavonoids against murine norovirus and feline calicivirus

“…Cells were maintained following the guideline of ATCC. MNV-1 and FCV titrations were carried out as described previously with slight modifications (Lee et al, 2011;Lee et al, 2014;Su & D'Souza, 2013).…”

Reduction of Hepatitis A Virus on FRhK‐4 Cells Treated with Korean Red Ginseng Extract and Ginsenosides

“…Ginseng contains many active ingredients, including ginsenosides, polysaccharides, peptides, phytosterols, polyacetylenes, polyacetylenic alcohols, and fatty acids (Gillis ). The anti‐stress, anti‐inflammation, anti‐carcinogenic, antioxidant, anti‐bacterial, anti‐fungal, and anti‐viral activities of ginseng have been documented (Gillis ; Lee and others ; Ng and Wang ). In addition, ginseng has beneficial effects on cardiovascular diseases, endocrine diseases, and the immune system (Attele and others ).…”

“…Similar to zidovudine, red ginseng has been used as a therapeutic supplement to treat patients with human immunodeficiency virus (Cho and others ). A red ginseng extract and its ginsenosides inhibit human norovirus (huNoV) surrogates including feline calicivirus (FCV) and murine norovirus (MNV) (Lee and others ). However, the antiviral activity and the mechanism of red ginseng against other foodborne viruses have not been demonstrated.…”

Ginseng, the 'Immunity Boost': The Effects of Panax ginseng on Immune System

“…Ginseng also had inhibitory effects on the growth of other viruses such as rotavirus, murine norovirus (MNV), and feline calicivirus (FCV) [110,111]. Pre-treatment but not post-treatment of mice with RGE exhibited antiviral effects on MNV and FCV, surrogates for human norovirus.…”