Evaluation of antioxidant healing formulations in topical therapy of experimental cutaneous and genital herpes simplex virus infections.

A genital HSV-2 infection of guinea pigs and a cutaneous HSV-1 infection in mice were used to examine the ability of antioxidant components CRT1 to reduce lesion development, duration, and severity. CRT is a patented antioxidant formulation developed by Warner-Lambert Worldwide Consumer Healthcare R. and D. CRT contains three components that work synergistically: vitamin E, sodium pyruvate and membrane stabilizing fatty acids. The MS strain of HSV-2 was utilized for intravaginal inoculation of guinea pigs with approximately 1.2 x 10(5) plaque forming units. The guinea pigs were treated on the external genital skin four times daily for 10 days beginning 48 h post viral inoculation. This study was designed to optimize the CRT formulations that would be used to quantify the synergistic effect of the CRT components. SKH-1 male hairless mice were inoculated with 1 x 10(7) HSV-1 (McIntyre strain) on the dorsal surface of the mouse and treated with CRT formulations starting on the afternoon of the day of infection, and treated for the following 14 days. In the guinea pig model, the CRT formula that contained all three CRT components, worked synergistically to reduce lesion development, duration and severity scores significantly compared to vehicle control or acyclovir. Acyclovir was the only compound that reduced viral titers, but in contrast to CRT, acyclovir did not reduce lesion development, duration or severity. The quantitative effect of the three CRT components was demonstrated in the mouse model.