Asian Journal
Of Traditional Medicines

Abstract: The anti-HSV activity of a parasitic fungus from cicadae flower was studied. The parasitic fungus was isolated from the cicadae flower collected in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province in July 2004, and identified according to the morphology of the mycelia and spores. Confluent monolayers of Vero cells were infected with 100 TCID50 of HSV-1 and treated with an extract of the mycelia to study its anti-HSV activity by the MTT method. The parasitic fungus can be cultured without the vital host and was identified as Paecilomyces cicadae. The extract of Paecilomyces cicadae was non-toxic to Vero cells at 6.2 μg/ml. The extract was able to inhibit the cytopathogenic effect in Vero cells by HSV-1 at concentrations ranging from 6.2 μg/ml to 1.6 μg/ml, and the highest inhibition (152.2 %) was obtained at a concentration of 6.2 μg/ml, and was still 78.7 % at 0.8 μg/ml. The traditional efficacy in improving vision and nebula removal of the cicadae flower is very likely related to the antiviral effect of its parasitic fungus Paecilomyces cicadae.

Key words: cicadae flower, Paecilomyces cicadae, HSV