394340

Effective Antiviral Activity of Tea Tree and Lemon Essential Oils against Influenza A virus (H1N1), Herpes Simplex virus Type 2 and Adenovirus Type 40

Article

Last updated: 08 Feb 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

Environmental chemistry

Abstract

Since drug-resistant mutations continue to arise, there are currently few effective therapeutic medicines for the control of the influenza virus, herpes simplex type 2, and adenovirus. In this study, we assessed the potential antiviral effects of the lemon and tea oils. For this purpose, Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to determine the composition of the essential oils (EOs) for lemon and tea tree. The oils were put through a virucidal test to check for cytotoxicity and in vitro inhibitory action against the H1N1, HSV-2, and Adenovirus (ADV) type 40. The obtained results showed that the dominant compounds in tea tree EO were terpinen-4-ol (62.51%), and in lemon EO, citral (51.9%) and neral (39.43%). Among the analyzed EOs, lemon essential oil is more powerfully antiviral than tea essential oil against the viruses under study compared with the recommended therapies. The lemon essential oil has a high activity (IC50 values of 2.501, 9.677, and 10.488) against H1N1, HSV-2, and ADV, respectively. On the other hand, the tea tree essential oil showed a moderate activity against H1N1 and HSV-2 with IC50 values (28.76, 39.462, respectively) and a high activity against (ADV) with IC50 (39.462). Both essential oils have a selectivity index (SI=IC50/MIC) higher than 4, which is considered effective and safe for the host cell. Therefore, lemon and tea essential oils could be a new natural source of antivirals with potential therapeutic benefits for people suffering from influenza, herpes simplex type 2, and adenovirus, and possibly other membrane-containing viruses.

DOI

10.21608/ejchem.2024.328528.10670

Keywords

Tea tree, lemon, Cytotoxicity, H1N1, Influenza virus, Herpes (HSV) and Adenovirus (ADV)

Authors

First Name

Atef

Last Name

El-Gebaly

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, 11884 Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt

Email

atefelgebaly82@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Ahmed

Last Name

Hamed

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, 11884 Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt

Email

ahmed_hamed@azhar.edu.eg

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Ahmed

Last Name

Youssef

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

National Research Centre, 30 El-Tahrir Street

Email

amyoussef27@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Ahmed

Last Name

Sofy

MiddleName

R

Affiliation

Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, 11884 Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt.

Email

ahmed_sofy@azhar.edu.eg

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

67

Article Issue

13

Related Issue

46555

Issue Date

2024-12-01

Receive Date

2024-10-21

Publish Date

2024-12-01

Page Start

2,171

Page End

2,179

Print ISSN

0449-2285

Online ISSN

2357-0245

Link

https://ejchem.journals.ekb.eg/article_394340.html

Detail API

http://journals.ekb.eg?_action=service&article_code=394340

Order

394,340

Type

Original Article

Type Code

297

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Egyptian Journal of Chemistry

Publication Link

https://ejchem.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Effective Antiviral Activity of Tea Tree and Lemon Essential Oils against Influenza A virus (H1N1), Herpes Simplex virus Type 2 and Adenovirus Type 40

Details

Type

Article

Created At

08 Feb 2025