In Vitro Evaluation of Anti-HSV-1 Activity of Kitaibelia Balansae Boiss. (Malvaceae)

Abstract

This study were done to evaluate the antiviral activity of methanol and aqueous extracts obtained from Kitaibelia balansae Boiss. (Malvaceae), traditionally used in herbal medicine in the treatment of various internal and external pains in Turkey, against herpes simplex virus types 1 (HSV-1). The maximum non-toxic concentration of extracts (MNTC) was determined against Vero cells. The cytotoxic activity of the extracts and the ability to inhibit the cytopathic effect (CPE) caused by the virus in the tissue culture was evaluated by colorimetric XTT assay three days after inoculation and incubation by using MNTC’s serial two-fold dilution (specific for each extract). 50% cytotoxic concentration (CC50) and 50% effective concentration (EC50) were determined using graphpad prism and selectivity index (SI) was calculated. As a result of research, It has been determined that both the methanol extract (EC50 = 4224.00 μg/ml; SI = 8.41) and the aqueous extract (EC50 = 1718.40 μg/ml; SI = 22.01) of Kitaibelia balansae have strong anti-HSV-1 activity, which can be considered significant compared to acyclovir (EC50 = 0.034 μg/ml, SI = 110.77), which is used as a positive control against HSV-1. This is the first report on the anti-HSV-1 activity of Kitaibelia balansae.

Keywords: Kitaibelia balansae, methanolic and aqueous extracts, antiviral activity, Herpes simplex virus type 1