Extracts of blueberries and black currants can help – healing practice

Measles & Herpes: Plant extracts work against some viruses

Blueberries and black currants are among the particularly healthy foods. she score with vitamins, minerals and fiber and can, among other things, be positive affect cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure. And extracts from these berries can help against certain viruses, researchers now report.

extracts from blueberries and black currants prevent the infection of cells by measles and herpes viruses in cell cultures. A team of scientists from Würzburg was very surprised by these research results. The new findings were published in the journal “BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies” released.

Immune strengthening or even healing

Like it in one Message of the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU), certain herbal extracts and natural substances have long been regarded as immune-boosting or even healing-promoting for various diseases. These include diseases caused by viruses.

But how can such connections be examined? How can appropriate with the least possible effort drug candidates be identified for further testing?

To this end, researchers now use, among other things, screening methods that “in vitro“, i.e. outside of a living organism, can make statements about desired or undesired effects on biological cells. Standardized cell cultures are used so that the results are comparable and reproducible.

Tests do not require animal testing

The scientists at the Fraunhofer Translation Center for Regenerative Therapies at the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC and at the Institute for Virology and Immunobiology at the JMU have a large number of viral infection systems to disposal.

Here cells are infected with different viruses and then it is analyzed whether certain substances inhibit the replication of the virus. According to the information, these tests can be standardized and are coming without animal testing out. Meaningful results can be achieved quickly in this way.

The collaboration between the two research groups has led to the development of 3D cell culture infection models led, which enable very close-to-patient infection studies with different viruses.

Analysis of the antiviral effect of plant extracts

As part of a research cooperation with the Research & Development Innovation department of Evonik Operations GmbH, analyzes of the antiviral Effect of plant extracts carried out. Basis were cell lines, which are established for investigations of defined viral infections.

“In the first step, we carried out toxicity analyzes of the herbal drug candidates to determine whether and in what concentrations the substances are compatible with the cell cultures”, explains Dr. Maria Steinke, head of the project at the Fraunhofer Translation Center for Regenerative Therapies.

For the subsequent Efficacy Tests only the substances and concentrations identified as cell-compatible were used against viruses.

The study used herpes and measles viruses modified in such a way that infected cells fluoresce green. Substances that inhibit viral infection therefore lead to fewer cells under UV light glowed green. In this way, the number of infected cells in the cultures could be automated.

High content of anthocyanin pigments

In the antiviral experiments, the cell systems were treated with a total of nine drug candidates and the effect on the course of infection examined.

The data collected by the researchers shows that a mixture of blackcurrant and blueberry extracts with high levels anthocyanin dyes (Healthberry® 865) and the corresponding individual extracts have in vitro antiviral properties against measles and herpes viruses.

“Together with Professor Bodem’s team, we have already carried out such effectiveness tests for many companies, but very often the actually hoped-for effects can hardly or not at all be proven. Therefore, the recognizable antiviral effect of the substances in this study came almost as a surprise to us.”, according to Dr. Steinke.

The research groups also succeeded in identifying the active, antiviral components in the extracts. This is also for a real or ingredient development an essential step. The data also show that the natural substances can complement conventional antiviral therapies.

Measles virus infection inhibited

“Overall, our study showed very interesting results on the effectiveness of plant extracts on viruses in vitro,” says Professor Bodem. “Because some of the substances investigated inhibit infection with measles viruses, but not the measles vaccine virus used for vaccination”explains the expert.

“Thus, vaccination would be possible in addition to preventive treatment if it were possible to develop a therapeutic agent based on the plant’s constituents. By identifying the active ingredients in the extracts, we have taken a first step in this direction.”

The results on the effectiveness of phytonutrients against human pathogenic virus strains give reason to be confident that with the help of in-vitro test methods, new fields of application for active substances that have already been approved can be identified more quickly than before.

In the future, herbal extracts and active ingredients alone or in combination with common drugs could open up new options in antivirals therapies open. (ad)