February 10, 2023 23:43
A new study, conducted in the United States, found that two types of common wild plants contain extracts that prevent the emerging corona virus, which causes Covid-19 disease, from infecting living cells.
Scientific Reports published the results of the study, which is the first major screening of plant extracts for an active substance against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
In laboratory experiments, extracts from fern flowers (Solidago altissima) and roots of eagle fern (Pteridium aquilinum) prevented the virus from entering human cells.
The active compounds are found in trace amounts in plants. The researchers stress that it would be ineffective, and potentially dangerous, for people to try to treat themselves with these extracts.
“It’s still very early days, but we’re working to identify, isolate, and expand the range of molecules from extracts that have shown activity against the virus,” says Cassandra Quave, senior author of the study and assistant professor in the department of dermatology and the Center for the Study of Human Health at Emory College of Medicine in Atlanta. “Once the active ingredients are isolated, we plan to conduct further tests to confirm their safety and long-term potential as anti-COVID drugs.”
Quave is a folk botanist, meaning she studies how traditional people used plants in medicine to identify promising new candidates for the production of modern medicines. Its library contains thousands of natural botanical and fungal products extracted from plants collected in various locations around the world.
Given that COVID-19 appeared recently, the researchers took a broader approach. They devised a way to quickly test more than 1,800 extracts and 18 compounds from researcher Quave’s library of natural products for a substance against the coronavirus.
“We have shown that our library of natural products is a powerful tool to help search for potential treatments for an emerging disease,” says Caitlin Reisner, first author of the current paper. “Other researchers can adapt our screening method to search for other new compounds within plants and fungi that may lead to new drugs to treat a range of diseases.” Pathogens”.
Corona virus is known to be an RNA virus that contains a spike protein that can bind to a protein called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) on host cells. “In coronaviruses, the spike protein ACE2 is almost used as a switch, which enables the virus to penetrate and infect the cell,” Coaff explains.
The researchers created experiments with “virus-like particles” of SARS-CoV-2 from the coronavirus.
The researchers identified extracts that protect against viral entry and then settled on those that showed the strongest activity: golden fern and eagle fern. Both types of plants are native to North America and are known for traditional medicinal uses by Native Americans.
Additional trials showed that the protective power of the plant extracts worked against four strains of the new coronavirus: alpha, theta, delta, and gamma.
The two plant extracts have been tested in experiments against the infectious coronavirus instead of “virus-like particles”. The results confirmed the ability of extracts of eagle fern and golden fern to inhibit the ability of SARS-CoV-2 virus to bind to and infect a living cell.
“Our results paved the way for the future use of natural product libraries to find new tools or treatments against infectious diseases,” says Quave.
“The enormous medicinal potential of plants highlights the importance of preserving ecosystems,” Reisner adds.
Source: Al Ittihad – Abu Dhabi
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