Polyphenols from Heartwood Protect Neuronal Cells from Oxidative Stress and Prevent Herpetic Infection.

Here, we continued the investigation of anti-HSV-1 activity and neuroprotective potential of 14 polyphenolic compounds isolated from heartwood. We determined the absolute configurations of asymmetric centers in scirpusin A () and maackiazin () as 7,8 and 1″,2″, respectively. We showed that dimeric stilbens maackin () and scirpusin A () possessed the highest anti-HSV-1 activity among polyphenols -. We also studied the effect of polyphenols and on the early stages of HSV-1 infection. Direct interaction with the virus (virucidal activity) was the main mechanism of the antiviral activity of these compounds. The neuroprotective potential of polyphenolic compounds from was studied using models of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-and paraquat (PQ)-induced neurotoxicity. A dimeric stilbene scirpusin A () and a flavonoid liquiritigenin () were shown to be the most active compounds among the tested polyphenols. These compounds significantly increased the viability of 6-OHDA-and PQ-treated Neuro-2a cells, elevated mitochondrial membrane potential and reduced the intracellular ROS level. We also found that scirpusin A (), liquiritigenin () and retusin () considerably increased the percentage of live Neuro-2a cells and decreased the number of early apoptotic cells. Scirpusin A () was the most promising compound possessing both anti-HSV-1 activity and neuroprotective potential.