Persimmon-derived tannin has antiviral effects and reduces the severity of infection and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in a Syrian hamster model

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has rapidly spread across the world. Inactivating the virus in saliva and the oral cavity represents a reasonable approach to prevent human-to-human transmission because the virus is easily transmitted through oral routes by dispersed saliva. Persimmon-derived tannin is a condensed type of tannin that has strong antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. In this study, we investigated the antiviral effects of persimmon-derived tannin against SARS-CoV-2 in both in vitro and in vivo models. We found that persimmon-derived tannin suppressed SARS-CoV-2 titers measured by plaque assay in vitro in a dose- and time-dependent manner. We then created a Syrian hamster model by inoculating SARS-CoV-2 into hamsters’ mouths. Oral administration of persimmon-derived tannin dissolved in carboxymethyl cellulose before virus inoculation dramatically reduced the severity of pneumonia with lower virus titers compared with a control group inoculated with carboxymethyl cellulose alone. In addition, pre-administration of tannin to uninfected hamsters reduced hamster-to-hamster transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from a cohoused, infected donor cage mate. These data suggest that oral administration of persimmon-derived tannin may help reduce the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission of the virus.

Oral SARS-CoV-2 Inoculation Causes Nasal Viral Infection Leading to Olfactory Bulb Infection: An Experimental Study

“…Before virus inoculation, they were anesthetized with an intraperitoneal injection of pentobarbital (10 mg/mL, 0.8mL/hamster). In the infection group, 50 μL of virus solution diluted with saline (including 1.0×10 5 pfu of SARS-CoV-2) was administered into the mouth following the method of the previous paper ( Furukawa et al., 2021 ). In the control group, 50 μL of saline was administered.…”

Oral SARS-CoV-2 Inoculation Causes Nasal Viral Infection Leading to Olfactory Bulb Infection: an Experimental Study

“…Before virus inoculation, they were anesthetized with an intraperitoneal injection of pentobarbital. In the infection group, 50 µL of virus solution diluted by saline (including 1.0×10 5 pfu of SARS-CoV-2) was administered into the mouth following the method of the previous paper 29 . In the control group, 50 µL of saline was administered.…”

Antioxidant Potential of Non-Extractable Fractions of Dried Persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb.) in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

“…The procedure for persimmon-derived tannin extraction has been described previously [ 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Immature persimmon fruits ( Diospyros kaki Thunb., cv.…”