Antiviral activities of Capsicum annuum methanolic extract against herpes simplex virus 1 and 2

This study was conducted to quantify the antioxidant and anti-viral activities of capsicum annuum methanolic extracts. the extract of capsicum annuum was prepared by maceration method and the total polyphenolic and flavonoids contents were determined using a spectrophotometric method. the antiradical scavenging property and the maximum nontoxic concentration of the extract was determined using dpph assay and mtt method,respectively. serial concentrations of the extract not exceed the maximum nontoxic concentration were used against vero cells for anti-hsv-1 and ant-hsv-2 effects by plaque assay. the results of the phytochemical analysis showed that the extract has high polyphenolic content while has relative low flavonoids contents. in the antiradical scavenging property test the extract showed at 64.1 μg/ml 50% dpph radical scavenging activity and in the mtt assay the extract has relatively low cytotoxicity where the ic50 value of extract against vero cells was 1078.69 μg/ml. furthermore,the extract exhibited a considerable anti-hsv-1 and anti-hsv-2 activities at the concentration of 25 μg/ml. in conclusion,our findings indicate that the methanolic extract of capsicum annuum could be used in combination with standard drug to treat herpes infection. copyright 2017 zoological society of pakistan.