THE ANTIVIRAL/VIRUCIDAL EFFECTS OF ALCHOOLIC AND AQUEOUS EXTRACTS WITH PROPOLIS
ABBAS HAZEM 1#, IOANA MĂDĂLINA PITICĂ-ALDEA 2#, CARMEN POPESCU 3, 4#*, LILIA MATEI 2#, DENISA DRAGU 2#, MIHAELA ECONOMESCU 2#, IRINA ALEXIU 2#, IULIANA CRIŞAN 3#, CARMEN CRISTINA DIACONU 2#, CORALIA BLEOTU 2#, DUMITRU LUPULIASA 1#
1.“Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania
2.“Ștefan S. Nicolau” Institute of Virology, Bucharest, Romania
3.S.C. HOFIGAL Export Import S.A., Bucharest, Romania
4.“Vasile Goldiş” Western University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Arad, Romania
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The objective of this study was to evaluate the antiviral/virucidal characteristics of two types of propolis extracts (alcoholic and aqueous) against human pathogenic DNA-viruses. In our tests three virus strains were used: HSV1 (Herpex simplex virus) (strain VR # 3), Varicella zoster (VZV) and adenovirus type 5 (ADV5). The cells used in each experiment were selected according to their sensitivity to produce high titers of infectious viruses. Non-cytotoxic concentrations of aqueous/alcoholic propolis extracts were tested so that the toxic effect does not overlap with the cytopathic effect. After treatment, the titer of each virus was determined by daily monitoring of the occurrence and evolution of cytopathic effect and by immunofluorescence. At non-cytotoxic concentrations, we have not depicted a significant reduction in the viral titre, so we concluded that propolis extract pre-/post-treatment do not provide antiviral protection, for all tested viruses. As virucid, propolis tincture showed a strong anti-HSV, VZV activity in direct contact with virus, similar to that of acyclovir, cafeic and chlorogenic acids. The propolis aqueous extract was less efficient on HSV and VZV, even in direct contact, but showed the strongest inhibitory effect in the pre-treatment of ADV5 infected cells.
