Publication Date
2017
Document Type
Thesis
Committee Members
Nancy Bigley (Committee Chair), Barbara Hull (Committee Member), Dawn Wooley (Committee Member)
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Abstract
Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a highly infective human pathogen which infects a wide range of population in North America and worldwide. HSV-1 infection has two phases, lytic and latent. Recurrence of HSV-1 is a major challenge to clinicians to control the infection especially in immune depleted individuals. Acyclovir (ACV) is an antiviral drug used to treat HSV-1 infection. Low solubility of ACV in water, mutation of viral thymidine kinase, and mutation of viral DNA polymerase are major problems that cause usage limitations of ACV. Myrrh has been used as an analgesic and anti-inflammatory natural product in middle eastern countries for centuries. Recently Myrrh has shown a promising therapeutic action against fungal and parasitic infections. In the current study, low concentrations of Myrrh treatment increased cell survival of HSV-1 infected Vero cells. Prolonged exposure to Myrrh was found to be toxic to viable cells. Myrrh treatment of HSV-1 infected Vero cells was compared with ACV treatment of HSV-1 infected Vero cell. Myrrh treatment increased cell survival of infected Vero cells, similar to the effect of ACV treatment. These results provide evidence that Myrrh exerts antiviral effects against herpes virus infection.
Page Count
56
Department or Program
Microbiology and Immunology
Year Degree Awarded
2017
Copyright
Copyright 2017, some rights reserved. My ETD may be copied and distributed only for non-commercial purposes and may be modified only if the modified version is distributed with these same permissions. All use must give me credit as the original author.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
