Role and Scope of Ethnomedical Plants in the Development of Antivirals

Pharmacologyonline 3: 64-72 (2006)

Newsletter

ROLE AND SCOPE OF ETHNOMEDICAL PLANTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANTIVIRALS

Debprasad Chattopadhyay

ICMR Virus Unit, ID & BG Hospital, GB 4, First floor, 57 Dr. Suresh C Banerjee Road, Beliaghata, Kolkata 700 010, India.

Summary Ethnomedicinal plants have been used as source of drugs for almost all diseases, but none are used against viruses probably because there are a very few specific viral targets for natural molecules to interact. Most of the available antiviral drugs often lead to side effects, viral resistance, recurrence and latency. A wide range of ethnomedicinal plants showed strong antiviral activities either by inhibiting replication, or genome synthesis of many viruses. Hence, development of new antivirals from natural source is an alternate approach. This review will discuss some of the promising antivirals of ethnomedicinal plants with proven in vitro and some documented in vivo activities. Keywords: Ethnomedicines; Antivirals, HSV; HIV.

People of all continents have long used poultices and infusions of indigenous plants like cedar wood and cypress oil, juice of licorice, myrrh and poppy for the treatment of coughs and colds to parasitic infections and inflammation1. The clinical virologists are looking into the antiviral plant extracts as (i) the effective life span of antiviral drug is limited; (ii) many viral diseases are intractable to most of the orthodox antivirals, (iii) development of viral resistance, latency and recurrence, and (iv) rapid spread of emerging and reemerging viral diseases like HIV/AIDS, SARS etc. All these spurred intensive investigation into the ethnomedicines, especially for people unable to afford expensive antivirals, and the impressive array of knowledge and wisdom of indigenous people about their generation old medicaments for the development of new or complementary antivirals. 64

Pharmacologyonline 3: 64-72 (2006)

Newsletter

Chattopadhyay

Viral

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