A Laboratory Evaluation of Medicinal Herbs Used in China for the Treatment of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease

Table 1

Evaluation of cytotoxicity and antiviral activity of plant materials used for HFMD in China*.

Latin name	Abbr.	Parts, traditional usage	CC50 (𝜇g/mL)	IC50 (𝜇g/mL)
				EV71	CVA16
Houttuynia cordata Thunb.	HCT	Stem and leaves, bacterial and viral disease	>1000	8.9 ± 1.6 (FY),; 20.6 ± 2.5 (BrCr)	186.3 ± 20.1
Mentha haplocalyx Briq.	MHB	Leaves, viral and bacterial disease	>1000	(−)	70.3 ± 4.6
Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch.	GUF	Stem and root, coughing	>1000	(±)	(±)
Gardenia jasminoides Ellis	GJE	Fruits, icteric hepatitis	>1000	(−)	(−)
Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bge.	AAB	Stem and root, coughing	>1000	(−)	(−)
Arctium lappa L.	ALL	Fruits, coughing	>1000	(−)	(−)
Eupatorium fortunei Turcz.	EFT	Stem and leaves, fever	>1000	(−)	(−)
Lonicera japonica Thunb.	LJT	Flowers, inflammation	>1000	(−)	(−)
Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi	SBG	Root, common cold	240.2 ± 15.4	(−)	(−)
Isatis indigotica Fort.	IIFL	Leaves, coughing	>1000	(−)	(−)
Isatis indigotica Fort.	IIFS	Root, fever and viral disease	>1000	(−)	(−)
Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.) Vahl	FSV	Fruits, viral disease	>1000	(−)	(−)

*The reference of Latin names, abbreviations, parts used in pharmaceuticals and traditional usages of the medicinal plants, and data on antiviral screening against EV71 (Fuyang strain and BrCr strain) and CVA16 are listed. Cytotoxicity was assayed on Vero cells at a maximal concentration of 1000 μg/mL. Those showed toxicity against Vero cells were further tested to determine a CC₅₀ value, while those showed no toxic effect at the maximal concentration tested were reported as >1000 μg/mL. IC₅₀: 50% inhibitory activity against virus infection-induced cytopathic effect.
Data are presented as mean ± SE of triplicates. All experiments were performed at least twice with triplicate samples. FY: EV71 Fuyang strain; (−): no activity at 1000 𝜇g/mL; (±): marginally active.