<i>Melissa officinalis</i> Extract Inhibits Attachment of Herpes Simplex Virus in vitro

Abstract

Background: Extracts and essential oils of medicinal plants are increasingly of interest as novel drugs for antiherpetic agents, since the herpes simplex virus (HSV) might develop resistance to commonly used antiviral drugs. Methods: An aqueous extract of Melissa officinalis as well as phenolic extract compounds, i.e. caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid and rosmarinic acid were examined for their antiviral activity against herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) in vitro. Results: When drugs were added to HSV-1-infected cells, no antiviral effect was observed as determined by plaque reduction assay and analysis of expression of viral protein ICP0. However, the Melissa extract demonstrated a high virucidal activity against HSV-1, even at very low concentrations of 1.5 µg/ml, whereas similar results for phenolic compounds were only achieved at 100 times higher concentrations. Besides the virucidal activity, the Melissa extract and rosmarinic acid inhibited HSV-1 attachment to host cells in a dose-dependent manner. These results indicate that rosmarinic acid was the main contributor to the antiviral activity of Melissa extract. However, the selectivity index of Melissa extract of 875 against HSV is superior to the selectivity indices of single constituents. Conclusion: Melissa extract exhibits low toxicity, is virucidal and affects HSV-1 attachment to host cells in vitro.

Antiviral activity of the oseltamivir and Melissa officinalis L. essential oil against avian influenza A virus (H9N2)

“…However, typical reduction in viral infectivity was observed when HSV-1 and HSV-2 viruses were treated with lemon balm oil prior to infection, thus a high antiviral activity probably due to direct drug-virus interaction was detected [28]. Moreover, aqueous extract of lemon balm as well as phenolic compounds drastically affected the infectivity of HSV-1 only at the early stage of virus replication [5].…”

“…4 Virus was added to MDCK cells and after 1 h, the cells washed with PBS then oseltamivir was added. 5 Virus was added to MDCK cells and after 1 h, the cells washed with PBS then DMEM was added. 6 DMEM was added and after 1 h, the cells washed with PBS then DMEM was added a,b,c Different superscripts denote significant differences among means in column for main effects (P B 0.05)…”

“…Other ingredients are tannins unique to the Lamiaceae, such as triterpenylic acid, bitter principles, flavonoids including phenolic acids, terpenes, rosmarinic acid and caffeic acids, also lemon balm have antioxidant, antihistamine, antispasmodic, anti-tumor/anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties. The extract of M. officinalis has been reported to inhibit protein synthesis and exhibit antiviral action against the Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) [5].…”

Estudio Comparativo entre Terapia con Melissa officinalis vs. Tratamiento Convencional con Aciclovir Tópico al 5% para Lesiones Herpéticas Tipo 1

“…El extracto de Melissa officinalis es utilizado ampliamente para diversos procedimientos clínicos, particularmente para el control de la ansiedad y sintomatologías similares, sin embargo, sus propiedades antivirales poseen un efecto de remisión sobre el VHS-1 y HSV-2 (Nolkemper et al), siendo evaluado en investigaciones microbiológicas previas (Koytchev et al, 1999), aunque generalmente en estudios in vitro (Astani et al, 2012) La utilización del extracto de Melissa officinalis en crema para la evaluación de la remisión del herpes simple evidenció la disminución de los días de infección de forma sostenida en el periodo de evaluación, coincidiendo con investigaciones que sitúan dicho efecto a los 2 días de uso (Koytchev et al) extiendo los resultados a la sintomatología asociada.…”

Voltammetric determination of polyphenolic content as rosmarinic acid equivalent in tea samples using pencil graphite electrodes

“…This polyphenol has a wide range of applications from food flavoring and preservatives to cosmetics and pharmaceutics (Petersens 2013). RA also presents antiinflammatory (Swarup et al 2007), antibacterial, antioxidant (Pérez-Tortosa et al 2012, anti-carcinogenic (Osakabe et al 2004), anti-mutagenic (Furtado et al 2008) and antiviral properties (Astani et al 2012). RA is also studied for its effects against the Alzheimer's disease (Alkam et al 2007), for the improvement of cognitive performance and for the reduction of the severity of kidney diseases (Bulgakov et al 2012).…”