Antiviral activity in Argentine medicinal plants

In an ethnopharmacological screening of selected medicinal plants used in A rgentina for the treatment of infectious diseases, aqueous extracts of five species were assayed in vitro to detect antiviral activity against herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and adenovi rus serotype 7 (ADV-7). Polygonum punctatum, Lithraea molleoides, Sebastian ia brasiliensis and Sebastiania klotzschiana but not Myrcianthes cisplatens is showed in vitro antiherpetic activity with 50% effective dose (ED50) ran ging from 39 to 169 mu g/ml. P. punctatum, L. molleoides and M. cisplatensi s showed antiviral activity against RSV with ED50 ranging from 78 to 120 mu g/ml. None of the extracts had antiviral activity against ADV-7. The diffe rences between their maximal non cytotoxic concentration and their antivira l activity values were high enough to justify further analysis. (C) 1999 El sevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.