Attachment and Penetration of Acyclovir‐resistant Herpes Simplex Virus are Inhibited by Melissa officinalis Extract. (12th May 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Astani, Akram; Heidary Navid, Mojdeh; Schnitzler, Paul
• Is Part Of: Phytotherapy research. Volume 28:Number 10(2014:Oct.)
• Page Start: 1547
• Page End: 1552
• Publication Date: 2014-05-12
• Subjects: Materia medica, Vegetable -- Periodicals; Botany, Medical -- Periodicals; Medicinal plants -- Periodicals; Plant Extracts -- therapeutic use -- Periodicals; Plants, Medicinal -- Periodicals; 581.634
• DOI: 10.1002/ptr.5166
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0951-418X

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>Medicinal plants are increasingly of interest as novel source of drugs for antiherpetic agents, because herpes simplex virus (HSV) might develop resistance to commonly used antiviral drugs. An aqueous extract of <italic>Melissa officinalis</italic> and the phenolic compounds caffeic acid, <italic>p</italic>‐coumaric acid and rosmarinic acid were examined for their antiviral activity against herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV‐1) acyclovir‐sensitive and clinical isolates of acyclovir‐resistant strains <italic>in vitro</italic>. When drugs were added during the intracellular replication of HSV‐1 infected cells, no antiviral effect was observed by plaque reduction assay. However, <italic>Melissa</italic> extract interacted directly with free viral particles of two acyclovir‐resistant HSV strains at low IC<sub>50</sub> values of 0.13 and 0.23 µg/mL and high selectivity indices of 2692 and 1522, respectively. The <italic>Melissa</italic> extract and rosmarinic acid inhibited HSV‐1 attachment to host cells in a dose‐dependent manner for acyclovir‐sensitive and acyclovir‐resistant strains. These results indicate that mainly rosmarinic acid contributed to the antiviral activity of <italic>Melissa</italic> extract. Penetration of herpes viruses into cells was inhibited by <italic>Melissa</italic> extract at 80% and 96% for drug‐sensitive and drug‐resistant viruses, respectively. <italic>Melissa</italic> extract exhibits low toxicity and affects attachment and penetration of acyclovir‐sensitive and acyclovir‐resistant HSVs <italic>in vitro</italic>. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.</p> </abstract>