SCREENING OF INDONESIAN PLANT-EXTRACTS FOR ANTI-HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS TYPE-1 (HIV-1) ACTIVITY

Of 30 Indonesian plant extracts tested for their human immunodeficienc y virus type-1 (HIV-1) inhibitory activities, six were shown to be eff ective by assays using HIV-l-infected MT-4 cells: a methanol extract o f mahoni (bark of Swietenia mahagoni) and water extracts of benalu teh (stems and branches of Loranthus parasiticus), kiules (fruit of Helic teres isora), supratul (fruits of Sindora sumatrana), sambiloto (leave s of Andrographis paniculata) and temu ireng (rhizoma of Curcuma aerug inosa). Their EDS, values ranged from 4.2 to 175 mu g/mL. The samples also suppressed the formation of syncytia in co-cultures of MOLT-4 and MOLT-4/HIV-1 cells, The most potent inhibitor was a methanol extract of mahoni, which also showed a significant inhibition of HIV-1 proteas e.