ANTIVIRAL ACTIVITY OF SPARTIUM JUNCEUM AGAINST HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS TYPE 1: AN IN-VITRO STUDY

This study was carried out to evaluate the antiviral activities of methanol and aqueous extracts prepared from the flowers and stems of Spartium junceum L., used as herbal medicine in the treatment of gastric ulcer in Turkish folk medicine, against herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). The maximum non-toxic concentration of the extracts (MNTC) was determined against Vero cells by using the serial two-fold dilution of MNTC (specific for each extract). The cytotoxic activity of the extracts and their ability to inhibit the cytopathic effect (CPE) caused by the virus in tissue culture was evaluated by colorimetric XTT assay after three days of inoculation and incubation. 50% cytotoxic concentration (CC₅₀) and 50% effective concentration (EC₅₀) were determined using graph pad prism, and the selectivity index (SI) was calculated from the EC₅₀ ratio of CC₅₀. As a result of the research, the strongest antiviral activity against HSV-1 was determined from flower aqueous extract with 1290.88 μg/mL EC₅₀ and 24.09 SI values, and this was followed by stem aqueous extract (EC₅₀ = 1217.52 μg/mL, SI = 12.22), flower methanol (EC₅₀ = 1673.41 μg/mL, SI = 6.74) and stem methanol extracts (EC₅₀ = 795.31 μg/mL, SI = 4.86). As a result, we can say that S. junceum extracts are worthy of further study to develop as an alternative to the drugs used clinically against HSV-1. This is the first report on S. junceum for anti-HSV-1 activity.