1.Antiviral activities of Cholistani plants against common poultry viruses
Shahzad, M.I. ; Anwar, S. ; Ashraf, H. ; Manzoor, A. ; Naseer, M. ; Rani, U. ; Aslam, Z. ; Saba, N. ; Kamran, Z. ; Ali, S. ; Aslam, J. ; Arshad, M.
Tropical Biomedicine 2020;37(No.4):1129-1140
Herbal medicines are becoming more popular and acceptable day by day due to
their effectiveness, limited side effects, and cost-effectiveness. Cholistani plants are reported
as a rich source of antibacterial, antifungal, antiprotozoal, antioxidant, and anticancer agents.
The current study has evaluated antiviral potential of selected Cholistani plants. The whole
plants were collected, ground and used in extract formation with n-hexane, ethyl acetate and
n-butanol. All the extracts were concentrated by using a rotary evaporator and concentrate
was finally dissolved in an appropriate vol of the same solvent. All of the extracts were tested
for their antiviral potential by using 9-11 days old chick embryonated eggs. Each extract was
tested against the Avian Influenza virus H9N2 strain (AIV), New Castle Disease virus Lasoota
strain (NDV), Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) and an Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV).
Hemagglutination test (HA) and Indirect Hemagglutination (IHA) tests were performed for
different viruses. The overall order of the antiviral potential of Cholistani plants against
viruses was NDV>IBV>IBDV>AIV. In terms of antiviral activity from extracts, the order of
activity was n-butanol>ethyl acetate>n-hexane. The medicinal plants Achyranthes aspera,
Neuroda procumbens, Panicum antidotale, Ochthochloa compressa and Suaeda fruticose
were very effective against all four poultry viruses through their extracts. The low IC50
values of these extracts confirm the high antiviral potential against these viruses. It is worth
to mention that Achyranthes aspera was found positive against IBDV through all its extracts
which overcome the problem of unavailability of any known drug against IBDV. In short, the
study proved that Cholistani plants are rich source of antiviral agent and their extracts can be
used as good source of antiviral drugs both in crude and in purified form.