EVALUATION OF ANTIVIRAL AND CYTOTOXIC ACTIVITIES OF TAMARIX GALLICA AND SILYBUM MARIANUM EXTRACTS
DANIELA IONESCU1#, IOANA MADALINA ALDEA2#, CORALIA BLEOTU2, MIHAELA CHIVU ECONOMESCU2, LILIA MATEI2, GABRIELA DENISA RIZEA1, IULIANA CRISAN1, CARMEN CRISTINA DIACONU2*, DANA MIHELE3,4
1.S.C. Hofigal Export Import S.A., Bucharest
2.“Stefan S. Nicolau”Institute of Virology, Bucharest
3.Clinical Hospital of Infectious and Tropical Diseases“Dr. Victor Babes”, Bucharest
4.University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila", Faculty of Medicine, Department of Dermatology, Bucharest, Romania
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The aim of this study was to investigate the virucid and cytotoxic activity of two hydroalcoholic extracts from French tamarisk (Tamarix gallica) and Milk thistle (Silybum marianum), plants that have been used for their therapeutic effects from ancient times. Each of these extracts was extensively studied for their hepatoprotective and stimulant effects, sometimes with contradictory results.
The present study investigates for the first time the antiviral effect and cytoxicity of these extracts using a set of European standardized procedures for the virucidal activity testing in human medicine. Antiviral activity demonstrated by the two extracts complete and sustain our previous results on the hepatoprotective effect of a pharmaceutical product that has both extracts in its composition.
