OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of herbal eye drop Reduqing (clearing toxic heat) on herpes simplex virus (HSV) on the cytopathic effect in cell culture in vitro.

METHODSThe maximal non-toxic Reduqing eye drop concentration added to cell culture infected with 100 and 10TCID50 of herpes simplex virus? (HSV-1) to observe the inhibitory effect of the medicine on HSV-I induced cytopathic effect.

RESULTSThe Reduqing eye drop at maximal non-toxic concentration could obviously inhibit the cytopatic effect induced by 100TCID50 and 10TCID50 HSV-I. No statistically significant difference was found when compared with 0.1% acyclovir eye drop (P>0.05), on cytopathic effect occurred with boty eye drops. However, there was significant difference when compared with control group(P<0.05). The inhibitory effect of concentrations of Reduqing at 500,000 and 63,000 microg/L was stronger than that of 2,000,000 and 1,000,000 microg/L (P 0.01). The maximal tolerable concentration of Reduqing eye drop by the cell was 2,000,000 microg/L (1:80 dilution), which was higher than that of 5,000 microg/L(1:400 dilution) acyclovir eye drop.

CONCLUSIONSThese results suggest that Reduqing eye drop could markedly inhibit the cytopathic effects caused by HSV-I. The Reduqing eye drop showed remarkably low toxic effect to the cells as compared to acyclovir eye drop.