ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Elsayed A. Elsayed1,2 , Hamed A. El-Serehy3,4, Walaa H. Salama5 and Fahad Al-Misned3
1Bioproducts Research Chair, Zoology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
2Natural and Microbial Products Department, National Research Centre, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt.
3Zoology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
4Port Said University, Faculty of Science, Marine Science Department, Port Said, Egypt.
5Department of Molecular Biology, National Research Center, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt.
J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2014;8(Spl. Edn. 1):143-147
© The Author(s). 2014
Received: 26/02/2014 | Accepted: 03/05/2014 | Published: 31/05/2014
Abstract

Since their introduction, nucleoside analogues such as acyclovir are considered to be effective antiviral drugs against viral infections caused by herpes simplex. However, with the emergence of acyclovir-resistance, there is a growing need to develop an alternative antiherpetic drug. Within such context, snake venom could serve as a potential lead. In this study, the antiviral properties of Naja haje haje (N. haje) venom was evaluated against herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 (HSV-1, 2) in vitro. HSV-infected Vero cells and cell-free virus suspensions were treated with N. haje crude venom phospholipase A2 (PLA2) as well as 3 different fractions, and the virus yield and infectivity were then quantified by direct plaque assay. The results of the present study showed that N. haje venom at a concentration of 1 µg/ml resulted in 72.1% inhibition of plaque of HSV-1 and 67.5% inhibition against HSV-2, while PLA2 and fraction 1 at a concentration of 25 µg/ml caused 18.4 and 56.3% inhibition against HSV-1 and 15.2 and 52.2 % against HSV-2, respectively. On the other hand, fraction 3 at a concentration of 150 µg/ml resulted in 61.1% inhibition against HSV-1 and 65.9% plaque inhibition against HSV-2. N. haje venom inhibited both HSV-1 and 2 and showed some virucidal activity. These properties suggest that this venom could provide advantages as a topical prophylactic/therapeutic agent for HSV infections.

Keywords

Naja haje haje, Venom, Herpes simplex virus, Antiviral activity

Article Metrics

Article View: 805

Share This Article

© The Author(s) 2014. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.