title: A new antiviral screening method that simultaneously detects viral replication, cell viability, and cell toxicity.
abstract: Viruses cause a variety of illnesses in humans, yet only a few antiviral drugs have been developed; thus, new antiviral drugs are urgently needed. Plants could be a good source of antiviral drugs, they do not have mobility and can only defend themselves by producing compounds against pathogens such as viruses in their own fix environment. These compounds may have the potential to inhibit animal and human viruses as well. In this study, a fast and reliable method for screening plant extracts for specific antiviral activity against Herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) was developed. This method distinguishes between host cell death due to infectivity and multiplicity of the virus versus toxicity of the plant extract. Extracts from 80 plant and plant organs were screened using this approach. Six plant extracts showed potential to exert specific HSV-1 growth inhibition activity. In two cases, different organs from the same plant showed similar active results. With this method it is possible to screen a large number of extracts in a rapid and accurate way to detect antiviral substances against HSV-I and other viruses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Sigal
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matza-Porges
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Kobi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Eisen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Hadeel
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Adva
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haberman
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem, Israel. Electronic address: President@hadassah.ac.il.
authors.forename: Bertold
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fridlender
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Gili
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Joseph
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000633:toxicity; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / Q000379:methods*; D018259:Herpesvirus 1, Human / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays / Q000379:methods; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000633:toxicity; D014709:Vero Cells; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts
keywords: Cyotpathic effect; Luciferase; Plant antiviral activity; Toxicity; Viral infectivity; β-Galactosidase