Roviello Valentina, Scognamiglio Pasqualina Liana, Caruso Ugo, Vicidomini Caterina, Roviello Giovanni N
Department of Chemical, Materials and Industrial Production Engineering (DICMaPI), University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale V. Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy.
Center for Advanced Biomaterial for Health Care (CABHC), Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 80125 Naples, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Dec 27;19(1):273. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19010273.
The practice of spending time in green areas to gain the health benefits provided by trees is well known, especially in Asia, as 'forest bathing', and the consequent protective and experimentally detectable effects on the human body have been linked to the biogenic volatile organic compounds released by plants. Houseplants are common in houses over the globe and are particularly appreciated for aesthetic reasons as well for their ability to purify air from some environmental volatile pollutants indoors. However, to the best of our knowledge, no attempt has been made to describe the health benefits achievable from houseplants thanks to the biogenic volatile organic compounds released, especially during the day, from some of them. Therefore, we performed the present study, based on both a literature analysis and in silico studies, to investigate whether the volatile compounds and aerosol constituents emitted by some of the most common houseplants (such as peace lily plant, , and iron plant, ) could be exploited in 'indoor forest bathing' approaches, as proposed here for the first time not only in private houses but also public spaces, such as offices, hospitals, and schools. By using molecular docking (MD) and other in silico methodologies for estimating vapor pressures and chemico-physical/pharmacokinetic properties prediction, we found that β-costol is an organic compound, emitted in appreciable amounts by the houseplant , endowed with potential antiviral properties as emerged by our MD calculations in a SARS-CoV-2 M (main protease) inhibition study, together with sesquirosefuran. Our studies suggest that the anti-COVID-19 potential of these houseplant-emitted compounds is comparable or even higher than known M inhibitors, such as eugenol, and sustain the utility of houseplants as indoor biogenic volatile organic compound emitters for immunity boosting and health protection.
花时间置身于绿色区域以获得树木带来的健康益处这种做法广为人知，尤其是在亚洲，被称为“森林浴”，而随之对人体产生的保护作用以及可通过实验检测到的效果与植物释放的生物源挥发性有机化合物有关。室内植物在全球各地的家庭中都很常见，它们因其美观以及净化室内一些环境挥发性污染物的能力而备受青睐。然而，据我们所知，尚未有人尝试描述室内植物释放的生物源挥发性有机化合物，尤其是其中一些在白天释放的化合物所能带来的健康益处。因此，我们开展了本研究，基于文献分析和计算机模拟研究，来探究一些最常见的室内植物（如白鹤芋、 和铁线蕨 ）释放的挥发性化合物和气溶胶成分是否可用于“室内森林浴”方法，这里首次提出不仅适用于私人住宅，也适用于办公室、医院和学校等公共场所。通过使用分子对接（MD）和其他计算机模拟方法来估算蒸气压以及预测化学物理/药代动力学性质，我们发现β-木香醇是一种由室内植物大量释放的有机化合物，在一项针对严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）M（主要蛋白酶）抑制研究的MD计算中显示，它与倍半玫瑰呋喃一起具有潜在的抗病毒特性。我们的研究表明，这些室内植物释放的化合物对抗新冠病毒的潜力与已知的M抑制剂（如丁香酚）相当，甚至更高，并支持室内植物作为室内生物源挥发性有机化合物排放源在增强免疫力和保护健康方面的效用。
