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. 2010 Apr 9;25(2):107–114. doi: 10.1007/s12250-010-3092-6

In vitro anti-viral activity of the total alkaloids from Tripterygium hypoglaucum against herpes simplex virus type 1

Zhe Ren 1,2, Chuan-hai Zhang 1,4, Lian-jun Wang 1,3, Yun-xia Cui 1,3, Ren-bin Qi 2, Chong-ren Yang 5, Ying-jun Zhang 5, Xiao-yi Wei 6, Da-xiang Lu 2,✉, Yi-fei Wang 1,3,✉
PMCID: PMC7090710  PMID: 20960307

Abstract

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a commonly occurring human pathogen worldwide. There is an urgent need to discover and develop new alternative agents for the management of HSV-1 infection. Tripterygium hypoglaucum (level) Hutch (Celastraceae) is a traditional Chinese medicine plant with many pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammation, anti-tumor and antifertility. The usual medicinal part is the roots which contain about a 1% yield of alkaloids. A crude total alkaloids extract was prepared from the roots of T. hypoglaucum amd its antiviral activity against HSV-1 in Vero cells was evaluated by cytopathic effect (CPE) assay, plaque reduction assay and by RT-PCR analysis. The alkaloids extract presented low cytotoxicity (CC50 = 46.6 μg/mL) and potent CPE inhibition activity, the 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) was 6.5 μg/mL, noticeably lower than that of Acyclovir (15.4 μg /mL). Plaque formation was significantly reduced by the alkaloids extract at concentrations of 6.25 μg/mL to 12.5 μg/mL, the plaque reduction ratio reached 55% to 75 which was 35% higher than that of Acyclovir at the same concentration. RT-PCR analysis showed that, the transcription of two important delayed early genes UL30 and UL39, and a late gene US6 of HSV-1 genome all were suppressed by the alkaloids extract, the expression inhibiting efficacy compared to the control was 74.6% (UL30), 70.9% (UL39) and 62.6% (US6) respectively at the working concentration of 12.5μg/mL. The above results suggest a potent anti-HSV-1 activity of the alkaloids extract in vitro.

Key words: Tripterygium hypoglaucum, Herpes complex virus, Alkaloid, Antiviral activity, Gene expression

Footnotes

Foundation items: The Joint Funds of National Science Foundation of China (U0632010); The State Key Laboratory of Phytochemistry and Plant Resources in West China; Chinese Academy of Sciences (O807B11211, O807E21211) and “211 grant of MOE”.

Contributor Information

Da-xiang Lu, Phone: +86-20-85220004, Email: ldx@jnu.edu.cn.

Yi-fei Wang, Phone: +86-20-85223426, FAX: +86-20-85223426, Email: twang-yf@163.com.

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Articles from Virologica Sinica are provided here courtesy of Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

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