Evaluation of antiviral activity of South American plant extracts against herpes simplex virus type 1 and rabies virus

Abstract

This paper describes the screening of different South American plant extracts and fractions. Aqueous and organic extracts were prepared and tested for antiherpetic (HSV-1, KOS and 29R strains) and antirabies (PV strain) activities. The evaluation of the potential antiviral activity of these extracts was performed by using an MTT assay for HSV-1, and by a viral cytopathic effect (CPE) inhibitory method for rabies virus (RV). The results were expressed as 50% cytotoxicity (CC(50)) for MTT assay and 50% effective (EC(50)) concentrations for CPE, and with them it was possible to calculate the selectivity indices (SI = CC(50)/EC(50)) of each tested material. From the 18 extracts/fractions tested, six extracts and four fractions showed antiviral action. Ilex paraguariensis, Lafoensia pacari, Passiflora edulis, Rubus imperialis and Slonea guianensis showed values of SI > 7 against HSV-1 KOS and 29-R strains and Alamanda schottii showed a SI of 5.6 against RV, PV strain.

Synthesis and evaluation of some novel thiazoles and 1,3-thiazines as potent agents against the rabies virus

“…RABV infection was reduced when infected cells were treated with South American plants and algal polysaccharide extracts. 6,7 In addition, phenolic compounds were also tested and showed some activity against RABV. 8 In vitro anti-RABV activity is commonly assessed by inhibition of cytopathic effect (CPE).…”

Evaluation of the antifungal activity and mode of action of Lafoensia pacari A. St.-Hil., Lythraceae, stem-bark extracts, fractions and ellagic acid

“…The macerate prepared from the stem bark is a popular remedy for the treatment of wound healing, fever, gastric ulcer, gastritis, utero inflammation and upheavals of biliary vesicle (Guarim Neto & Moraes, 2003). Previous works have shown that Lafoensia pacari stem bark ethanol and methanol extracts possess anti-ulcer (Tamashiro-Filho, 1999), anti-inflammatory (Albuquerque, 1996a, Rogerio et al, 2008a), immunostimulating (Albuquerque, 1996b, free radicals scavenging (Solon et al, 2000), antiviral (Müller et al, 2007), anti-eosinophilic (Rogerio et al, 2008b), analgesic and anti-oedematous (Rogerio et al, 2006) and inhibition of interleukin (IL)-5 production (Rogerio et al, 2003) activities. According to Solon (1999), this plant is rich in ellagic acid, which presents gastric anti-secretory (Murakami et al, 1991) and antibacterial effects (Chung, 1998;Lima et al, 2006) and a recent clinical study carried out with Lafoensia pacari extract revealed positive effects on the symptomatology of Helicobacter pylori infected patients (Mota Menezes et al, 2006), but to the best of our knowledge, there was no published report on the plant's antifungal properties.…”

Evaluation of the Efficacy of Crude Extracts of Salix subserrata and Silene macroselen for the treatment of rabies in Ethiopia

“…Four of the six crude extracts, namely chloroform and methanol 80 % extracts of S. macroselen and chloroform and aqueous extracts of S. subserrata, did show a significant antirabies activity. Methanol extracts of Alamanda schottii showed anti-rabies activity (Muller et al, 2007). However, the anti-viral activity resided only in aqueous rather than in ethanol extracts of Nepeta nepetella leaves (Abad et al, 2000).…”