Alternative Medicines for Encephalitis

Abstract

Encephalitis can be caused by several viruses, including western equine encephalitis (WEE) virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, herpes simplex virus (HSV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), influenza viruses and the measles virus. Bacteria such as Neisseria meningitidis and Treponema pallidum have also been shown to be causative agents of encephalitis. There are no medications currently available that selectively target virus-infected cells, although some nucleotide derivatives, and oseltamivir, are exceptionally effective against herpes simplex and influenza viruses, respectively. Vaccination is one way to prevent infection; however, vaccines have not been developed for every viral disease. Western medicines based on herbal extracts, and alternative Eastern medicines have been used for treatment and as preventative measures in instances of viral infection. In particular, the latter has been developed based on daily life from ancient times when molecular biological knowledge was lacking. An example of this is the bark of Cinchona succirubra, which contains quinine and has been used as a remedy for malaria. Following infection, certain viruses cause cytopathic effects (CPE) in cells that grow as monolayers in vitro. This phenomenon is a useful tool in virology to determine whether a material is applicable for treatment of viral diseases. Viral infection is usually controlled by species specificity, and inhibited by interferons produced by infected cells. Not every cell line exhibits a CPE following infection. African Green Monkey (Vero) cells (Yasumura & Kawakita, 1963) are defective in the production of interferons, and are highly susceptible to arboviruses and many other pathogenic viruses (Simizu & Terasima,). The Vero cell line is used for basic virus research in laboratories, diagnostics in hospitals, epidemiological surveys and bacterial toxin assays. Additionally, the potential of Vero cells for vaccine production has been examined. The cell line has been distributed to scientists globally by services such as the American Type Culture Collection. It has been shown that Agaricus blazei Murille water extracts, prepared as an alternative medicine, inhibit the formation of CPE in Vero cell cultures caused by the WEE virus. Vero cells were continuously cultured in a modified Eagle’s minimal essential medium without serum, protein and lipids (Yasumura et al., 1978). The cells were grown on 24-well plastic culture plates in a chemically defined medium for viral assay experiments, cells infected after they reached confluency. Before virus infection, the cells were washed with the phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4) without Mg2+ and Ca2+. A virus-containing solution (0.2 ml) with a 50% tissue culture infective dose (TCID50) of 100 was added to each well and