Antiviral activity of some plant oils against herpes simplex virus type 1 in Vero cell culture

BackgroundHerpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) causes some of the most common viral infections in humans. Its genome is linear double-strand DNA. It is demonstrated that HSV is one of the causes of encephalitis, dermatitis, and genitourinary infections, and also the probable cause of cervical cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the antiviral activity of different concentrations of medicinal plant essential oils on HSV type 1 in Vero cells in vitro condition.MethodsIn this study, in order to determine the antiherpetic effect of essential oils, the plaque reduction assay was carried out on Vero cells. For determination of cytotoxicity effect of essential oils, 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide was used. Analysis was performed using gas chromatography-mass chromatograph with a HP-5MS column.ResultsThe cytotoxic effect of different concentrations of Zataria multiflora and Eucalyptus caesia showed no cytotoxic effect in 0.02% and 0.02%, respectively, and results indicated no cytotoxic effect in Artemisia kermanensis, Satureja hotensis L and Rosmarinus officinalis up to their concentrations of 0.04%. Anti- HSV activity of different oils (concentration ≤ 0.02) did not show any cytotoxic effect on Vero cells viability. Anti-HSV-1 activity of these oils proved that increasing concentration of oils would inhibit virus plaque formation.ConclusionIt can be concluded that the oils studied in this research have significant inhibitory effect on HSV-1 and thus they could be used as an anti-HSV-1 agent in the context of herbal mouth wash.