Jassim S A A, Naji M A
Department of Microbiology, Zayed Complex for Herbal Research and Traditional Medicine, General Authority for Health Services of Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
J Appl Microbiol. 2003;95(3):412-27. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2672.2003.02026.x.
Several hundred plant and herb species that have potential as novel antiviral agents have been studied, with surprisingly little overlap. A wide variety of active phytochemicals, including the flavonoids, terpenoids, lignans, sulphides, polyphenolics, coumarins, saponins, furyl compounds, alkaloids, polyines, thiophenes, proteins and peptides have been identified. Some volatile essential oils of commonly used culinary herbs, spices and herbal teas have also exhibited a high level of antiviral activity. However, given the few classes of compounds investigated, most of the pharmacopoeia of compounds in medicinal plants with antiviral activity is still not known. Several of these phytochemicals have complementary and overlapping mechanisms of action, including antiviral effects by either inhibiting the formation of viral DNA or RNA or inhibiting the activity of viral reproduction. Assay methods to determine antiviral activity include multiple-arm trials, randomized crossover studies, and more compromised designs such as nonrandomized crossovers and pre- and post-treatment analyses. Methods are needed to link antiviral efficacy/potency- and laboratory-based research. Nevertheless, the relative success achieved recently using medicinal plant/herb extracts of various species that are capable of acting therapeutically in various viral infections has raised optimism about the future of phyto-antiviral agents. As this review illustrates, there are innumerable potentially useful medicinal plants and herbs waiting to be evaluated and exploited for therapeutic applications against genetically and functionally diverse viruses families such as Retroviridae, Hepadnaviridae and Herpesviridae
几百种具有作为新型抗病毒药物潜力的植物和草本物种已被研究，但令人惊讶的是，它们之间的重叠很少。已鉴定出多种活性植物化学物质，包括黄酮类化合物、萜类化合物、木脂素、硫化物、多酚类化合物、香豆素、皂苷、呋喃化合物、生物碱、聚胺、噻吩、蛋白质和肽。一些常用烹饪香草、香料和草本茶的挥发性精油也表现出高水平的抗病毒活性。然而，鉴于所研究的化合物类别较少，具有抗病毒活性的药用植物中大多数化合物的药典信息仍然未知。这些植物化学物质中有几种具有互补和重叠的作用机制，包括通过抑制病毒DNA或RNA的形成或抑制病毒繁殖活性来产生抗病毒作用。确定抗病毒活性的测定方法包括多组试验、随机交叉研究，以及更有缺陷的设计，如非随机交叉和治疗前及治疗后分析。需要将抗病毒疗效/效力与基于实验室的研究联系起来的方法。尽管如此，最近使用各种能够在各种病毒感染中发挥治疗作用的药用植物/草本提取物所取得的相对成功，让人们对植物抗病毒药物的未来充满乐观。正如本综述所示，有无数潜在有用的药用植物和草本等待评估和开发，用于治疗针对逆转录病毒科、嗜肝DNA病毒科和疱疹病毒科等遗传和功能多样的病毒家族。
