An in vitro assessment of antiviral activity for ethanol extract of Desmodium canadense against bovine herpesvirus type 1.

Herpesviruses (HV) are pathogens causing infections in humans and animals worldwide. Since it shares many common features with other HV, bovine HV type 1 (BoHV-1) was selected as a model to test the anti-herpesviral activity of medicinal plants.Fifteen plants were chosen in this study for their medical, antibacterial and antiviral proper-ties. The aim was to investigate ethanolic extracts from the selected medicinal plants for anti-BoHV-1 activity. The virucidal activities were evaluated by comparing the effect of noncy-totoxic concentrations of extracts on BoHV-1 strain 1640 replication in Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cells. Virucidal activity was determined by means of virus titration after expo-sure to the extracts. The extract of Desmodium canadense was found to be the most effective virucide - the 50% tissue culture infective dose (TCID50) after exposure was 3.75 log10 and the virus reduction factor was ≥5.0±0.25 log10. The extract of D. canadense was therefore chosen for further studies. Virus yield reduction assays showed that D. canadense extract had time-depen-dent and dose-dependent effects. It effectively reduced virus titre from 8.33 log10 to 4.67 log10(p⟨0.01). The virucidal activity was also confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR), where the number of threshold cycles (Ct) was inversely proportional to the virus titre in TCID50 The virucidal activity was also confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR). This method showed that the number of threshold cycles (Ct) was inversely proportional to the virus titre (direct correlation with exposure time R=0.9321). The extract of D. canadense showed a high virus reduction capacity. In future, such active substances should be identified for the development of effective antivirals.

Capillary zone electrophoresis method for determination of bitter (alpha- and beta-) acids in hop (Humulus lupulus L.) cone extracts.

PURPOSE: Humulus lupulus (H. lupulus), more commonly known as hop, is a member of the Cannabaceae family with male and female flowers on separate plants. It is native in Europe including Lithuania, Asia and North America. Hop has been recognized as a medicinal plant for centuries, nevertheless different medicinal activities of hop are currently investigated and discovered. An important class of hop compounds is the hop acids, which are classified as alpha-acids and beta-acids. Different varieties of hops vary in amount and composition of hop acids. METHODS: Simple capillary zone electrophoresis method has been optimized and applied for the analysis of hop acids in hop cone extracts. RESULTS: With this method the analysis takes ca. 10 min. Repeatability for migration times and peak areas expressed as relative standard deviation were up to 0.21% and 5.96%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Comparative results of capillary zone electrophoretic analysis of extracts of different hop varieties and conductometric titration, as a standard method for determination of alpha-acids, are presented. Both methods provide consistent results, however capillary zone electrophoresis is capable of separating co- form of humulones from other forms.

Radical scavenging capacity of Agrimonia eupatoria and Agrimonia procera.

The antioxidant activity of Agrimonia eupatoria (Agrimony) and Agrimonia procera (Fragrant agrimony) extracts was assessed by measuring in DPPH radical scavenging and ABTS(+) radical decolourisation reaction systems. Radical scavenging capacity of agrimony extracts varied in a wide range (9.1-97.5% in DPPH reaction and 6.7-79.5% in ABTS reaction) depending on the polarity of the solvent used to obtain the extract.