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Medicinal Plant Research 2012, Vol.2, No.2, 6
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globulus
had a significant inhibitory effect against
HSV
-
1. Results of cytotoxicity assays showed that the
CC50 of aqueous methanolic extracts of
Eucalyptus
globulus
were 200 μg/mL, 150 μg/mL, 50 μg/mL
respectively. When applied one hour before Vero
cell infection with HSV
-
1, methanolic Eucalyptus
globulus at the concentration of 200 μg/mL, 150 μg/mL,
50 μg/mL caused a significant (P<0.05) reduction in
viral plaques compared to the control samples (Figure 1;
Figure 2).
Figure 1 Incubation of cells with the
Eucalyptus globulus
extract before, during and after virus infection
Figure 2 Effect of increasing concentration of
Eucalyptus
globulus
and
Artemisia draconculus
extract and acyclovir on
the titer of HSV
-
1
2 Discussion
Antiviral agents licensed currently for the treatment
of herpes virus infections include acyclovir and
derivatives, foscarnet and cidofovir, all of which
inhibit herpes virus DNA polymerases (Khan et al.,
2005). Some of these antiviral agents might produce
toxic side-effects. In addition, the emergence of virus
strains resistant to commonly used anti-herpes virus
drugs is of importance, particularly in Immunocom-
promised patients (Ju et al., 2011). The development
of viral resistance toward antiviral agents enhances
the need for new effective compounds against viral
infections. Thus, new antiviral agents exhibiting
different mechanisms of action are urgently needed
(Knickelbein et al., 2009).
Medicinal plants produce a variety of chemical consti-
tuents with the potential to inhibit viral replication and
compounds from natural sources are of interest as
possible sources to control viral infection (Koch et al.,
2008). These plants have been widely used to treat a
variety of infectious and non-infectious diseases and
represent an abundant source of new bioactive secon-
dary metabolites. Thus plants continue to be a major
source of new lead compounds (Batish et al., 2008).
Besides small molecules from medicinal chemistry,
natural products are still major sources of innovative
therapeutic agents for various conditions, including
infectious diseases (Wei and Shibamoto, 2010).
In recent years, tendency of people for using
traditional medication and medical plants have been
arisen and even these remedies have been chosen as
an alternative of industrialized medicine.
Herpes virus is one of common factors to produce
different diseases in human body. Complications of
herpes virus such as blister, skin rash, and meningitis
and brain encephalitis can be pointed out.
According to acyclovir therapy against HSV virus,
sometimes because of drug resistance or some
restrictions in using industrialized drugs such as
pregnancy, thinking about alternative therapies need to
be felt.
Eucalyptus globulus
and
Artemisia draconculus
are
two species of native herbs in Iran and the history of
their usage goes back to many years ago. In different
parts of Iran they can be found and their frequency is
high, so they can be used as an alternative treatment.
In this study the effects of two traditional herbs
(
Eucalyptus Globulus
and
Artemisia Draconculus
) and
acyclovir on herpes virus
-
1 were evaluated and
their efficacy to suppress HSV
-
1 was reported.
Based on results
Eucalyptus globulus
extract has
more effects in different dilutions against HSV
-
1 in
cell culture. According to our study, concentration
(200 μg/mL, 150 μg/mL, 50 μg/mL) has the best
effect and (>200 μg/mL) has lowest effect on HSV
-
1.
About
Artemisia draconculus
, after varied examinations