ABSTRACT
Avicennia marina (Avicenniaceae) is a species of mangrove tree used for treatment of small pox lesions in Persian folk medicine. The antiviral activity of methanol, ethanol, water, chloroform and n-hexane extracts was evaluated against HIV-1 and HSV. Methanol extract had the highest antiviral activity and the most polar fraction of this extract (fraction D) inhibited HSV with TI and SI values of 57.1 and 133; however, it showed mild activity against HIV with SI value of 6.25 (fraction 3). The anti-HSV activity of active fraction was confirmed using FLASH-PCR. Phytochemical investigation revealed that fraction D encompasses flavonoids compounds. The time-of-addition study demonstrated that fraction D disturbs viral replication after penetrating to the cell. A. marina was endowed with fragments by which found to be able to inhibit replication of HSV after entry but did not show significant potency against HIV-1. This promotes further investigation in anti-HSV drug discovery.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Setarud (IMOD™) is a herbal medicine with beneficial effect for patients suffering Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and has been approved for IV (intra venues) injection. The beneficial effect of IMOD administration for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) patient has been proved in previous clinical trials. Here the in vitro inhibitory effect of IMOD against HIV-1, Herpes simplex virus (HSV) and murine leukemia viruses (MLV) was evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: HIV single cycle replication and HSV plaque reduction assays were used to evaluate the anti-viral effect. The level of HIV replication was monitored by p24 capture Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The single round infection [with green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter MLV and HIV], virucidal and time-of-additions (HSV) assays were utilized to determine the mode of anti-viral activity. The toxicity of IMOD for cells was monitored by XTT (sodium 3_-[1 (phenylaminocarbonyl)- 3,4-tetrazolium]-bis (4-methoxy-6-nitro)benzene sulfonic acid) cell proliferation assay kit. RESULTS: IMOD inhibited 50% of HIV-1 and HSV replication (IC(50)) at 6.5 × 10(-4) and 4.3 × 10(-3)V/V concentrations, respectively. The IC(50) value against HIV-1 and MLV infection were 6 × 10(-4)V/V and 4.9 × 10(-4)V/V. Virucidal assay showed that IMOD reduces the potency of HIV and HSV particles to 41 and 54% of control, respectively. Time-of-addition study revealed that IMOD inhibits the replication of HSV at a stage after penetration of virions to the target cells. CONCLUSIONS: Data from this study indicate that IMOD has significant anti-viral activity against HIV, HSV and MLV. Setarud could be subjected to further investigation after isolation of the constituents and determination of the toxic components.
