Antiviral activity of Corylus heterophylla fisch against porcine epidemic diarrhea virus infection

Abstract

The porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) has recently been shown to cause huge economic losses in the global pork industry. Our results demonstrated that the extract dose-dependently inhibited the replication of PEDV and reduced the visible cytopathic effect (CPE). Treatment with C. heterophylla Fisch extract resulted in marked reduction of PEDV-induced cytokine and chemokine expression. The antiviral activity of C. heterophylla Fisch extract on PEDV replication was found to be primarily exerted at the early stages after infection. Taken together, our data indicate that C. heterophylla Fisch extract may be a good therapeutic agent for use against PEDV and also a potential candidate to be evaluated against other human and animal coronaviruses.