Vitae (Feb 2009)
EVALUATION OF THE <I>in vitro</I> ANTIVIRAL ACTIVITY OF FOUR EXTRACTS FROM THE SPECIES <I>Caryodendron orinocense</I> AND <I>Phyllanthus niruri</I> FROM <I>Euphorbiaceae</I> FAMILY AGAINST HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS TYPE 2 AND BOVINE HERPES VIRUS TYPE 1
Abstract
Viruses cause human and animal diseases of both epidemiological and economic importance and for many of them there are no satisfactory treatments or resistant strains are generated during drug therapy. Extracts from the Euphorbiaceae family plants have shown activity against viruses belonging to the Herpesviridae family. Both the toxicity and the antiviral activity of hexanic, ethyl acetate, methanolic and aqueous extracts from the Euphorbiaceae species Caryodendron orinocense and Phyllanthus niruri against Herpes Simplex Virus type 2 and Herpes Bovine Virus type 1, were evaluated using the crystal violet plaque staining technique. Furthermore, a preliminary phytochemical study of both species is presented. In general, extracts from the studied species showed toxic concentrations higher than 250 μg/ml. The ethyl acetate extract from Caryodendron orinocense showed the greatest viral reduction factor for both HSV-2 and HVB-1, namely, 102 at a concentration of 125 μg/ml and 104 a 62.5 μg/ml, respectively. The studied species showed a chemical composition determined primarily by aminoacids, phenolic compounds, tanins and triterpenes,metabolites that could be involved in their antiviral activity.
