title: Evaluation of Antiviral Activity ofZanthoxylumSpecies Against Picornaviruses.
abstract: Human rhinoviruses and enteroviruses (family Picornaviridae) infect millions of people worldwide each year, but little is known about effective therapeutical treatment for the infection caused by these viruses. We sought to determine whether or notZanthoxylum(Rutaceae) species can exhibit antiviral activity against picornaviruses. The leaf parts of fourZanthoxylumspecies were extracted with methanol, and the extracts were investigated for their antiviral activity against picornaviruses using cytopathic effects by cytopathic effect reduction. Leaf extracts ofZanthoxylum piperitumamong fourZanthoxylumspecies were found to possess only broad-spectrum antipicornavirus activity against human rhninovirus 2 with a 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of 59.48 μg/mL, human rhinovirus 3 with an IC50value of 39.94 μg/mL, coxsackie A16 virus with an IC50value of 45.80 μg/mL, coxsackie B3 virus with an IC50value of 68.53 μg/mL, coxsackie B4 virus with an IC50value of 93.58 μg/mL, and enterovirus 71 virus with an IC50value of 4.48 μg/mL. However, ribavirin did not possess antiviral activity against human rhinovirus 3 and four enteroviruses. Therefore, leaves ofZ. piperitumshowed broad-spectrum antipicornavirus activity, and may be useful as a candidate for studying picornavirus agents and development of pharmaceuticals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Beauty Science, Kwangju Women's University, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Hwa-Jung
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Choi
keywords: Zanthoxylum; antiviral; enterovirus; human rhinovirus; picornavirus