In Vitro Cardioprotective Effect of Wusen Erlian Granules Through the Inhibition of Coxsackievirus B3 Replication

Wusen Erlian Granules are a traditional Chinese medicine and we sought to determine the antiviral activity of Wusen Erlian Granules against Coxsackievirus B3 infection. First, cytotoxicity of Wusen Erlian Granules was determined in cultured cardiomyocytes isolated from day-old Wister rat pups. Later, cardiomyocytes were infected with Coxsackievirus B3 and the protective effect of Wusen Erlian Granules against cell injury was compared with that of ribavirin. Cell injury indicators including myoglobin, MB isozyme of Creatine Kinase, and cardiac Troponin were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and antiviral effect was assessed by MTT assay. We found that the 50 %-Toxic (TC50) and 50 %-Effective (EC50) concentrations of Wusen Erlian Granules were 394.05 and 30.26 mu g/ml, respectively. Following infection of cardiomyocytes with Coxsackievirus B3, cell injury index of Wusen Erlian Granules, as determined by ELISA, was 125 mu g/ml which yielded significant protection from virus-induced cell damage. The antiviral activity of Wusen Erlian Granules i.e., therapeutic index in MTT assay was higher (13.02) than that of ribavirin (6.93). It was, therefore, concluded that the Wusen Erlian Granules exerted better antiviral effect than ribavirin using Coxsackievirus B3 in vitro infection model in terms of rat cardiomyocytes protection from virus-induced cell injury.