Edible bird's nest extract inhibits influenza virus infection

Abstract

Edible bird's nest (EBN) is the nest of the swift that is made from its saliva. Although EBN has been widely used for enhancing immunocompetence, its antiviral efficacy has not been studied in detail. We found that EBN extract could strongly inhibit infection with influenza viruses in a host range-independent manner when it was hydrolyzed with Pancreatin F. Western blotting assay showed that the EBN extract bound to influenza virus. Furthermore, EBN extract could neutralize the infection of MDCK cells with influenza viruses and inhibit hemagglutination of influenza viruses to erythrocytes, but it could not inhibit the activity of influenza virus sialidase. Fluorometric HPLC indicated that the major molecular species of sialic acid in EBN is N-acetylneuraminic acid. The results suggest that EBN is a safe and valid natural source for the prevention of influenza viruses.

Improvement of Bone Strength and Dermal Thickness Due to Dietary Edible Bird’s Nest Extract in Ovariectomized Rats

“…Condroitin GAG in the EBNE used in the present study was solubilized by an extraction procedure including protease hydrolysis, and the beneficial effects of EBNE on bone might depend on solubilized condoroitin GAG. However, some other products of EBN hydrolysis are effective components, such as glycoprotein including sialylglycoconjugates, 10) since EBNE contains this at approximately 10%. 10) Some other components such as sialylglycoconjugates may be effective for improvement of bone strength in ovariectomized rats.…”

“…However, some other products of EBN hydrolysis are effective components, such as glycoprotein including sialylglycoconjugates, 10) since EBNE contains this at approximately 10%. 10) Some other components such as sialylglycoconjugates may be effective for improvement of bone strength in ovariectomized rats. The phosphorus concentrations in the femur and serum were higher in the EH group than in the C group in this study (Tables 1 and 2).…”

A screening assay for neuraminidase inhibitors using neuraminidases N1 and N3 from a baculovirus expression system

“…Many reports in the literature describe neuraminidase inhibitor assays relying on the cumbersome use of the influenza virus preparations 1,[8][9][10][11][12] . This procedure is risky, costly and inconvenient for the set-up of a screening assay.…”

A rapid and nondestructive method to determine the distribution map of protein, carbohydrate and sialic acid on Edible bird’s nest by hyper-spectral imaging and chemometrics

“…Therefore sialic acid content in saliva of swiftlets remains relatively stable level, which is the main reason why sialic acid component of the EBN sample is distributed evenly. According to the published papers, Sialic acids have been identified as one of the special nutrient components in EBNs due to its anti-virus and immune-enhancing properties (Guo, Takahashi, Bukawa, Takahashi, Yagi, Kato, Hidari, Miyamoto, Suzuki & Suzuki, 2006). …”

“…To our knowledge, no article related to the distribution of major components on EBN sample has been reported in the current literature. Both chemical methods (high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) (Guo et al, 2006), gas chromatographic (GC) (Chua, Chan, Bloodworth, Li & Leong, 2015), ultraviolet (UV) spectrometry (Saengkrajang, Matan & Matan, 2013) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) (Deng, Sun, Zhou & Li, 2006) may be used as analytical techniques for quantitative analysis, but these methods belong to "a single point/region" detection method which does not generally include consideration of the major components distribution map in the whole EBN sample.…”