Antiviral Properties of Supercritical CO₂ Extracts from Oregano and Sage

Abstract

The antiviral properties of supercritical CO₂ extracts obtained from oregano and sage were evaluated against the herpes simplex virus type 1 at different stages during virus infection. All of the extracts tested presented a moderate extracellular direct virucidal activity, although a pre-treatment of Vero cells, with 10 μg/mL of sage extracts before virus addition, inhibited 70% of the virus infection. Moreover, supercritical extracts of sage and oregano were able to significantly inhibit the in vitro virus replication, showing IC₅₀ values of 1.88 and 5.33 μg/mL, respectively. Carvacrol and thymol could be pointed out as the compounds responsible for the antiviral activity found in oregano supercritical extracts; meanwhile, borneol, camphor, and 1,8-cineole could be proposed as antiviral compounds in supercritical sage extracts. Results demonstrated that supercritical extraction was an appropriate technique to obtain antiviral extracts from oregano and sage.

Keywords:

• Antiviral activity
• Supercritical fluid extraction
• Oregano
• Sage
• Herpes simplex virus type 1

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work has been supported by the program CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 (CDS2007-00063) and the regional program ALIBIRD-CM S0505/AGR-0153 from the Comunidad de Madrid, Spain.