Abstract

Crude Extracts of sixteen seeds belonging to different plant species were tested for their antiviral activity against herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) and hepatitis A virus-27 (HAV-27). Non-toxic concentration (20 mg/ml) of Dianthus caryophyllus and Lupinus termes seedextracts to both Vero and HepG2 cells showed potent antiviral activity against HSV-1 and HAV-27 using plaque infectivity count assay. The mechanism of action D. caryophyllusrevealed its virucidal activity against HSV-1 and HAV-27 as 92.3 and 92.6%, respectively, while, the virucidal activity of L. termes was observed only against HAV-27 giving 93.7% of inhibition. No effect was detected for both extracts on adsorption or on the stages of virus replication. A comparison has been done between the antiviral activity of two therapeutic drugs (Acyclovir and Amentadine used as controls for HSV-1 and HAV-MBB, respectively) and the two tested seed extracts. The results revealed that these seed extracts were more efficient in their inhibitory activity than synthetic chemical drugs against the same viruses. This may open the way to give more attention to use the natural botanical origin in treatmenting viral infection with or without therapeutic agents to obtain better recovery with least side effects.

Key words: Antiviral seed extract, herpes virus infection, hepatitis virus infection, amantadine, acyclovir.