A polysaccharide fraction from medicinal herb Prunella vulgaris downregulates the expression of herpes simplex virus antigen in Vero cells
Herpes simplex viruses (HSV) are pathogenic. With the emergence of drug-resistant strains of HSV, new antiviral agents, especially those with different modes of action, are urgently needed. Prunella vulgaris L. (Labiatae), a perennial plant commonly found in China and Europe, has long been used as a...
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Published in | Journal of ethnopharmacology Vol. 93; no. 1; pp. 63 - 68 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Shannon
Elsevier Ireland Ltd
01.07.2004
Elsevier |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Herpes simplex viruses (HSV) are pathogenic. With the emergence of drug-resistant strains of HSV, new antiviral agents, especially those with different modes of action, are urgently needed.
Prunella vulgaris L. (Labiatae), a perennial plant commonly found in China and Europe, has long been used as a folk medicine to cure ailments. In this study, a polysaccharide fraction was prepared from
Prunella vulgaris (PPV), and its effects on the expressions of HSV-1 and HSV-2 antigens in their host Vero cells were investigated with flow cytometry. The HSV antigen increased time-dependently in the infected cells, and PPV reduced its expression. The effective concentrations of PPV with 50% reductions of the HSV-1 and HSV-2 antigens were 20.6 and 20.1
μg/ml, respectively. The novelty of PPV is that it also reduces the antigen expression of acyclovir-resistant strain of HSV-1. After incubations with 25–100
μg/ml of PPV the HSV antigen-positive cells were reduced by 24.8–92.6%, respectively, showing that this polysaccharide fraction has a different mode of anti-HSV action from acyclovir. Results from this study show that PPV is effective against both the HSV-1 and HSV-2 infections, and flow cytometry offers a quantitative and highly reproducible anti-HSV drug-susceptibility assay. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 |
ISSN: | 0378-8741 1872-7573 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.jep.2004.03.024 |