Scientific Evaluation of the Remedies Used in Turkish Folk Medicine to Treat Possible Viral Infections

Background: Plants, with their rich phytochemical treasury, are one of the main sources of drug development. However, a randomized search on plant sources for the discovery of phyto-chemicals with specified pharmacological activity is expensive and tedious. Therefore, it is logical to constrain the sources to increase success. In the recent four decades, the importance of traditional information has been recognized by the scientific community. Consequently, interest in field sur-veys for the documentation of traditional worldwide medicines has significantly increased. Method(s): Infectious diseases induced by pathogenic bacteria, fungi, or viruses have been one of the most common health problems for the public, for which traditional remedies have been practiced. Since laypeople could not distinguish the microbial origin of the infection, the remedies used for treatment could not be delineated. The aim of this study was first to search the plants used in Turkish folk medicine for such infectious diseases. The second step was to find scientific evidence in the online databases for the frequently quoted plants whether they may have potential activity against virus replication. Result(s): A reference survey on the most frequently quoted plants revealed that 16 out of 17 were shown to possess virucide or inhibitory effects on the replication of various viruses. Conclusion(s): Since each virus type may have a different viral replication pattern, further detailed in-vestigations should be carried out to reveal their exact antiviral potentials.Copyright © 2023 Bentham Science Publishers.

Three salvianolic acids inhibit 2019-nCoV spike pseudovirus viropexis by binding to both its RBD and receptor ACE2.

Since December 2019, the new coronavirus (also known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [SARS-CoV-2, 2019-nCoV])-induced disease, COVID-19, has spread rapidly worldwide. Studies have reported that the traditional Chinese medicine Salvia miltiorrhiza possesses remarkable antiviral properties; however, the anti-coronaviral activity of its main components, salvianolic acid A (SAA), salvianolic acid B (SAB), and salvianolic acid C (SAC) is still debated. In this study, we used Cell Counting Kit-8 staining and flow cytometry to evaluate the toxicity of SAA, SAB, and SAC on ACE2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2) high-expressing HEK293T cells (ACE2h cells). We found that SAA, SAB, and SAC had a minor effect on the viability of ACE2h cells at concentrations below 100 µM. We further evaluated the binding capacity of SAA, SAB, and SAC to ACE2 and the spike protein of 2019-nCoV using molecular docking and surface plasmon resonance. They could bind to the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the 2019-nCoV with a binding constant (KD ) of (3.82 ± 0.43) e-6 M, (5.15 ± 0.64)e-7 M, and (2.19 ± 0.14)e-6 M; and bind to ACE2 with KD (4.08 ± 0.61)e-7 M, (2.95 ± 0.78)e-7 M, and (7.32 ± 0.42)e-7 M, respectively. As a result, SAA, SAB, and SAC were determined to inhibit the entry of 2019-nCoV Spike pseudovirus with an EC50 of 11.31, 6.22, and 10.14 µM on ACE2h cells, respectively. In conclusion, our study revealed that three Salvianolic acids can inhibit the entry of 2019-nCoV spike pseudovirus into ACE2h cells by binding to the RBD of the 2019-nCoV spike protein and ACE2 protein.

Salvianolic acid B ameliorates psoriatic changes in imiquimod-induced psoriasis on BALB/c mice by inhibiting inflammatory and keratin markers via altering phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/protein kinase B signaling pathway.

Salvianolic acid B (SAB) is an active phytocomponent of a popular Chinese herb called Radix Salvia militiorrhiza with numerous biological properties. The anti-psoriasis activity of SAB was examined by evaluating various psoriasis inflammatory and keratin markers against imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriasis on BALB/c mice. Totally 50 healthy BALB/c mice were evenly divided into 5 groups including control, drug control (SAB; 40 mg/kg), IMQ-induced psoriasis (5%), IMQ exposure and treated with SAB (40 mg/kg), or standard methotrexate (MTX; 1 mg/kg). Mice supplemented with either SAB or MTX significantly lowered the values of psoriasis area severity index (PASI), erythema, scaling, skin thickness, inflammatory markers (interleukin [IL]-22/23/17A/1ß/6) and lipid peroxidation product (malondialdehyde). Also, IMQ exposed BALB/c mice treated with SAB or MTX display lesser histopathological changes with enhanced antioxidant activities (catalase, superoxide dismutase). Moreover, the protein expression of keratin markers (K16 and K17) and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) signaling proteins (pAkt/Akt and pPI3K/PI3K) were significantly downregulated after administration with SAB and MTX as compared with IMQ induced mice. Taking together, SAB and MTX significantly ameliorate psoriatic changes by inhibiting psoriatic inflammatory and keratin markers through abolishing PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. However, further studies (clinical trials) are needed to confirm the anti-psoriatic property of SAB before recommending to psoriasis patients.