Plants as sources of antiviral agents

Antivirals are substances other than a virus or virus containing vaccine or specific antibody which can produce either a protective or therapeutic effect to the clear detectable advantage of the virus infected host. The search for antiviral agents began in earnest in the 1950s but this was directed mainly by chance, with little or no scientific basis. It had a turning point in 1964 with a number of narrow spectrum agents whose values have been more difficult to establish. A lot of success has been achieved in the screening of plants for antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral actions. The use of plants or plant products, traditionally, as antiviral agents is relatively wider than their use in modern medicine. Some antiviral substances have so far been isolated from higher plants, algae and lichens. Suitable methods for evaluating antiviral properties of plants and their extracts include use of animal models, animal protection studies, egg inoculation studies and cell culture methods

Mutagenic and antimutagenic properties of some lichen species grown in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey

All the methanol extracts did not show mutagenic activity in Ames/Salmonella and Z. mays MI test systems. Furthermore, some extracts showed significant antimutagenic activity against 9-AA in Ames test system. Inhibition rates for 9-AA mutagenicity ranged from 25.51 % (P. furfuracea – 0.05 μg/plate) to 66.14 % (C. islandica – 0.05 μg/plate). In addition, all of the extracts showed significant antimutagenic activity against sodium azide (NaN₃) mutagenicity on MI values of Z. mays.Целью работы было изучить мутагенный и антимутагенный потенциал метанольных экстрактов Cetraria islandica (L.) Ach. (Parmeliaceae), Pseudevernia furfuracea (L.) Zopf (Parmeliaceae) и Xanthoparmelia somloënsis (Gyeln.) Hale (Parmeliaceae) – лишайников из восточной части Турции. Ни один из экстрактов не показал мутагенной активности в тестах Эймса и Z. mays MI. Более того, некоторые экстракты проявляли заметную антимутагенную активность против 9-амино-акридина в тесте Эймса. Уровень ингибирования варьировал от 25,51 % (P. furfuracea) до 66,14 % (C. islandica). Кроме того, все экстракты проявляли значительную антимутагенную активность против азида натрия в Z. mays MI тесте. Все экстракты могут считаться генотоксично безопасными в исследованных концентрациях