Abstract

Numerous herbal remedies against viral infections, including HIV-1, have been used as a part of Asian traditional medicine. However, the viral protein targets for inhibition by these medications are less well identified. HIV-1 reverse transcriptase is one of the targets, since high-efficiency inhibitors such as non-nucleoside HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitor have been successfully used. In this work, hexane extracts of Asian medicinal plants were screened against HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. The results showed that the crude extracts from plants Cinnamomum loureiroi (stem bark), Quercus infectoria (fruit), Plumbago indicaL. (root), Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. (seed), Ocimum sanctum L. (leaves), Allium sativum L. (bulb) and Acorus calamus L. (rhizomes) showed strong HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitory effects. The efficiency of anti-HIV-1RT activity was reported as 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC₅₀). This showed that the hexane crude extracts from A. calamus L. and A. heterophyllus Lam. contained potent activity against HIV-1 RT, with IC₅₀of 32.96 ± 3.17 and 34.69 ± 2.41 µg/ml, respectively.

Key words:  Anti-HIV agents, HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, inhibitor screening, PicoGreen.