Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-19-2021
Journal / Book Title
Microorganisms
Abstract
Herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) causes a wide range of infections from mild to life-threatening in the human population. There are effective treatments for HSV-1 infections that are limited due HSV-1 latency and development of resistance to current therapeutics. The goal of this study was to investigate the antioxidant and antiviral effects of embelin on HSV-1 in cultured Vero cells. Oxidative stress was verified by an extensive production of a reactive oxygen species (ROS) H2O2. Vero cells were infected with a recombinant strain of HSV-1 and antiviral assays, time course attachment, penetration, and post penetration assays, confocal microscopy, qPCR, and antioxidant assays were conducted. Our results lead to the conclusion that embelin is noncytotoxic at concentrations tested ranging from 20 to 70 µM. Treatment of HSV-1 virions with embelin resulted in 98.7–100% inhibition and affected the early stage of HSV-1 infection of Vero cells, by inhibiting the attachment and penetration of HSV-1 virions to host cells. Treatment of virions with concentrations of embelin ranging from 35 to 60 µM significantly reduced the production of H2O2. In conclusion, embelin reduces oxidative damage caused by HSV-1 infection and is an effective antiviral to reduce the infection of HSV-1 in cultured Vero cells. Further studies are needed to explore the possibility of embelin as a medicinal agent.
DOI
10.3390/microorganisms9020434
Montclair State University Digital Commons Citation
Elias, Tony; Lee, Lee H.; Rossi, Miriam; Caruso, Francesco; and Adams, Sandra D., "In Vitro Analysis of the Antioxidant and Antiviral Activity of Embelin against Herpes Simplex Virus-1" (2021). Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 578.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/biology-facpubs/578
Rights
© 2021 by the authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Published Citation
Elias, T., Lee, L. H., Rossi, M., Caruso, F., & Adams, S. D. (2021). In Vitro Analysis of the Antioxidant and Antiviral Activity of Embelin against Herpes Simplex Virus-1. Microorganisms, 9(2), 434. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9020434