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Unlocking the anti-herpetic properties of plants found in Egypt

05/08/2019 // Evangelyn Rodriguez // Views

Tags: alternative medicine, anti-herpetic, Catechin, cold sores, curcumin, disease treatments, endemic disease, flavonoids, Gallic acid, goodhealth, goodmedicine, Herpes, herpes simplex virus, HSV-1, infections, natural cures, natural medicine, oral herpes, outbreak, remedies, research, viral infections, virus

This study was conducted by researchers from the National Research Centre in Egypt and the University of South Brittany – Campus Tohannic in France to evaluate the anti-herpetic activity of 25 different Egyptian plants in vitro. The results were published in the journal Food Science and Human Wellness.

• The researchers used Vero cell lines to evaluate the antiviral activity of extracts obtained from different plants against Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (HSV-1).
• They found that extracts from only two plants, namely, Euphorbia coopire (Euphorbiaceae) and Morus alba (Moraceae) showed potent anti-herpetic activity. Six other extracts showed moderate inhibition.
• They conducted a bioassay-monitored phytochemical exploration of the two plants and isolated pure flavonoid compounds from them.
• They examined the antiviral activity of the isolated compounds and found that these seven pure compounds exhibited significant inhibition of HSV-1 viral activity:

  • 7-O-galloyl catechin
  • Gallic acid
  • Kaempferol 3-O-B-(6?-O-galloyl)-glucopyranoside
  • Quercetin 3-O-B-(6?-O-galloyl)-glucopyranoside
  • Curcumin
  • Quercetin
  • Kaempferol

• Among the seven compounds, they identified gallic acid, 7-O-galloyl catechin, and curcumin as the compounds with the strongest antiviral activity.

Based on these results, the researchers concluded that gallic acid, 7-O-galloyl catechin, and curcumin could be potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of adenoviral infections.

Read the full study at this link.

Journal Reference:

El-Toumy SA, Salib JY, El-Kashak WA, Marty C, Bedoux G, Bourgougnon N. ANTIVIRAL EFFECT OF POLYPHENOL RICH PLANT EXTRACTS ON HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS TYPE 1. Food Science and Human Wellness. 2018;7(1):91–101. DOI: 10.1016/j.fshw.2018.01.001

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