title: In Vitro Anti-rotaviral Activity of Achillea kellalensis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Achillea kellalensis, which is frequently used by Chaharmahal va Bakhtiarians residing in, Southwest of Iran, as a traditional herbal medicine for the treatment of acute diarrhea, has been selected to examine its antiviral activities against bovine rotavirus and cell toxicity activity in MA-104 cells.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro cytotoxic and anti-rotavirus properties of crude extracts of A. kellalensis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The dried and powdered flowers of Achillea kellalensis were extracted with hot water and ethanol 50% (v/v). The cell viability and toxicity of the extracts were evaluated on MA-104 cells using four methods; trypan blue dye, NR, crystal violet and MTT assay. The in vitro anti-rotavirus properties were determined via four different assays, in order to evaluate the direct inhibition and/or the inhibition of viral replication.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cytotoxicity of two A. kellalensis extracts showed different concentrations. Hydro-alcoholic extract had low CC50 at 600 µg/mL by the NR assay while the aqueous extract had high CC50 at 1000µg/mL by the crystal violet method. In the simultaneous treatment assay and post treatment assay, the extracts were able to prevent viral replication and inhibit the viral CPE on MA-104 cells at 10 TCID50, but the extracts did not exhibit direct antiviral activity on rotavirus adsorption. The effective concentration (EC50) of both extracts was observed to be 100 µg/mL.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results indicate that A. kellalensis extracts exert potent anti-rotaviral activity only after viral adsorption. The two extracts from A. kellalensis showed a good selectivity index. Also these results suggest that extracts prepared from the flowers of A. kellalensis may be potential anti-rotaviral agents in vivo and be useful in veterinary medicine.
authors.affiliation: Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapour University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, IR Iran ; Department of Medical Virology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Taherkhani
authors.affiliation: Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapour University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, IR Iran ; Department of Medical Virology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Farshadpour
authors.affiliation: Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapour University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, IR Iran ; Department of Medical Virology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Manoochehr
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Makvandi
keywords: Achillea; Cell Survival; In Vitro