Antiherpetic Activities of Natural Quercetin Alone and in Combinations with Nucleoside Antiherpetic Agents

천연 Quercetin의 항허피스바이러스작용과 Nucleoside계 항허피스바이러스제와의 병용효과

In order to find less toxic antiherpetic agents, the effect of natural quercetin on the plaque formation of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2) was studied in vitro in cell culture monolayers employing the technique of viral plaque reduction assay. Quercetin caused a concentration-dependent reduction in the plaque formation of herpesviruses. It also exhibited more potent antiherpetic activity on HSV-1 with effective concentration $(EC_{50})$ of $18.7\;{\mu}g/ml$ than on HSV-2 with $EC_{50}$ of $24.5\;{\mu}g/ml$. The combined antiherpetic effects of quercetin with nucleoside antiherpetic agents, acyclovir and vidarabine, were examined on the multiplication of these two strains of herpesviruses in Vero cells by the combination assay. The results of combination assay were evaluated by the combination index (CI) that was calculated by the multiple drug effect analysis. The combinations of quercetin with acyclovir on HSV-1 and HSV-2 showed more potent synergism with CI values of $0.19{\sim}0.89$ for 50%, 70%, 90% effective levels than those with vidarabine with CI values of $0.43{\sim}1.46$.