Resumen

The murine model of HSV ocular disease is often used for in-vivo testing of antiviral drugs. Previous studies have shown that meliacine (MA), a bioactive principle present in a purified fraction from Melia azedarach L. leaf aqueous extracts, inhibits HSV-1 multiplication in-vitro and abolishes the development of murine HSK by pre-treatment. We report here the effect of MA in preventing the onset of disease when administered after infection. Six to eight week-old Balb/c mice were infected in the cornea with HSV-1 (KOS), and treated topically with MA at 8 h, 24 h. and 96 h.p.i., three times a day, for three days. The incidence of blepharitis (20%), neovascularization (30%) and stromal keratitis (33%) significantly diminished with respect to the control infected mice (89%), as well as the severity of disease. Histological studies have confirmed clinical observations. By day 2 p.i., quantification of HSV-1 yield in MA-treated eyes showed a reduction between 2 and 3-orders-of-magnitude in viral titers in comparison to control animals. On the other hand, we showed that MA did not prevent the establishment of latency in mice inoculated with LAT-LTR lacZ HSV-1. The results obtained demonstrate that MA exerted an antiviral effect on HSK when applied at different times after infection. HSK has been shown to be an interaction of virologic and virus-induced immunological mechanisms. Since MA was highly effective when administered at 96 h.p.i., a probably immunomodulatory effect on the mouse immune system is suggested.

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2007-01-31   |   972 visitas   |   Evalua este artículo 0 valoraciones

Vol. 1 Núm.1. Abril 2002 Pags. Qviva 2002; 1(1)