Abstract
Ethanol extracts (AF-06, 07, and 08, 10 mg/kg) of Brazilian propolis were administered orally to cutaneously herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1)-infected mice three times daily on days 0 to 6 after infection to evaluate their efficacies against HSV-1 infection and significantly limited development of herpetic skin lesions. AF-07 and 08 significantly reduced virus titers in brain and/or skin on day 4 without toxicity, but AF-08 had no anti-HSV-1 activity in vitro. AF-06 and 08 significantly enhanced delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) to inactivated HSV-1 antigen in infected mice. Oral AF-08-administration significantly augmented interferon (IFN)-γ production by HSV-1 antigen from splenocytes of HSV-1-infected mice, while direct exposure of splenocytes of infected mice to AF-06 significantly elevated IFN-γ production in vitro. Thus, AF-08 might have components that are active in vivo even after oral administration and those of AF-06 might be active only in vitro. Because DTH is a major host defense for intradermal HSV-1 infection, augmentation of DTH response by AF-06 or 08, directly or indirectly, respectively, may contribute to their efficacies against HSV-1 infection. In addition, AF-06 and 07 possibly contain anti-HSV-1 components contributing to their efficacies. Such biological activities of Brazilian propolis may be useful to analyze its pharmacological actions.
Highlights
Propolis is currently used as an alternative medicine in the management of various ailments [1]
As the major peaks of our high-performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) profiles were estimated as flavonoids or prenylated phenylpropanoids in comparison with those of Brazilian propolis as reported previously by Park et al [26], we detected some of them in our HPLC system
We tried to determine the basis of the therapeutic effects on herpetic skin lesions of propolis using a cutaneous herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection mouse model and found that the ethanol extracts of Brazilian propolis AF-06, 07, and 08 exhibited therapeutically moderate efficacy in limiting herpetic lesions in mice
Summary
Propolis is currently used as an alternative medicine in the management of various ailments [1]. It has been used worldwide as a folk medicine since ca. Propolis has been reported to exhibit various biological activities, such as antibacterial, antitumor, and immunostimulatory activities [1, 2, 5,6,7,8,9]. The efficacy of a Canadian propolis ointment against genital herpetic lesions caused by HSV type 2 in humans has been reported [14], the anti-HSV-1 activity of propolis in vivo is not clear
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