ANTIHERPETIC ACTIVITY OF VARIOUS MEDICINAL PLANT-EXTRACTS

In order to find antiviral compounds against Herpes simplex virus type I (HSV-1) and II (HSV-2) from natural products, a convenient virus-in duced cytopathic effect (CPE) inhibition assay was introduced. More th an 300 fractions were prepared by solvent fractionation from sixty col lected plants or purchased herbal medicines, and their anti-herpetic a ctivities were evaluated. Among them, several medicinal plants showed potent anti-herpetic activity. Selective indexes (SI) of the EtOAc ext ract of Caraganae Radix (Caragana sinica) against HSV-1 and HSV-2 were more than 8.06 and 24.79, SI of the MeOH extract of Acer okamotoanum leaves were 3.92 and 3.51, SI of the CH2Cl2 extract of Veratri Rhizoma et Radix (Veratrum patulum) were 5.49 and 1.31 and SI of the MeOH ext ract of aerial part of Osmundae Rhizoma (Osmunda japonica) were more t han 3.45 and 1.25, respectively.