Biological properties of honey from Apis mellifera; Efficacy on inhibition of herpes simplex virus infection and antioxidant activity

¹ Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
² Master of Science Program in Applied Microbiology (International Program), Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand

^* Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract

Herpes simplex virus ( HSV) is a common cause of oral and genital lesions and remains latent in nerve ganglia. Current antiviral treatments often use antiviral drugs like acyclovir, valacyclovir, and famciclovir. However, these drugs have side effects and drug-resistant strains may emerge. Thus, natural products such as honey are being explored as an alternative agent for viral inhibition. This study aimed to investigate the antioxidant activity of longan, lychee, and polyfloral honey, and evaluate efficacy of honey against HSV-1 infection via plaque reduction assays. The HSV-1 was treated with three different types of honey before, during, and after viral attachment to human epidermal keratinocyte ( HaCaT) cells. Longan honey exhibited the highest total phenolic content of 1.375 ± 0.02 mg GAE/g and antioxidant activity of 0.850 ± 0.06 mg GAE/g. All three different types of honey exhibited less than 50% inhibition when treated before and after viral attachment. However, during viral attachment, all types of honey inhibited HSV- 1 infection by more than 50% at a concentration of 3.125% W/ V and polyfloral honey showed the strongest inhibitory effect by 70.87 ± 3.72%. These results suggest that the antiviral mechanism of honey may involve disrupting the viral particles or interfere during attachment of the virus to the cell. Therefore, the finding supports the potential anti-HSV activity of Thai longan, lychee, and polyfloral honey.