Fig. 3.

Pretreatment with VPA reduces the viral infection mediated by SARS-CoV-2. a Schematic of the experiment to determine the prophylactic effect of VPA on viral production. HK-2 and Huh-7 cells were treated with VPA at 4, 8, and 16 mM concentrations, or left untreated (control cells). At 24 h after treatment, culture medium was replaced by fresh medium without VPA. Cells were infected with the different viruses independently and the supernatants were collected at 24 and 48 h post-infection (hpi) for virus titration by plaque assay. Viruses analyzed were SARS-CoV-2 (MOI 0.5, b), VSV-GFP (MOI 0.01, c), and HCoV-229E (MOI 0.1, d). The latter was assayed only in Huh-7 cells. Virus titers were determined by a lysis plaque assay and represented in absolute numbers as plaque-forming units per ml (PFU/ml). Data are represented as the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. *p < 0.05