Antiviral Properties of Supercritical CO2 Extracts from Oregano and Sage

Abstract

The antiviral properties of supercritical CO2 extracts obtained from oregano and sage were evaluated against the herpes simplex virus type 1 at different stages during virus infection. All of the extracts tested presented a moderate extracellular direct virucidal activity, although a pre-treatment of Vero cells, with 10 μg/mL of sage extracts before virus addition, inhibited 70% of the virus infection. Moreover, supercritical extracts of sage and oregano were able to significantly inhibit the in vitro virus replication, showing IC50 values of 1.88 and 5.33 μg/mL, respectively. Carvacrol and thymol could be pointed out as the compounds responsible for the antiviral activity found in oregano supercritical extracts; meanwhile, borneol, camphor, and 1,8-cineole could be proposed as antiviral compounds in supercritical sage extracts. Results demonstrated that supercritical extraction was an appropriate technique to obtain antiviral extracts from oregano and sage.