Iota-carrageenan and xylitol inhibit SARS-CoV-2 in Vero cell culture
Shruti Bansal, Colleen B Jonsson, Shannon L Taylor, Juan Manuel Figueroa, Andrea Vanesa Dugour, Carlos Palacios, Julio César Vega
PLOS ONE, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0259943
Last year observed a global pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2) infection affecting millions of individuals worldwide. There is an urgent unmet need to provide an easily producible and affordable medicine to prevent transmission and provide early treatment for this disease. Since the nasal cavity and the rhinopharynx are the sites of initial replication of SARS-CoV-2, a nasal spray may be an effective option to target SARS-CoV-2 infection. In this study, we tested the antiviral action of three candidate nasal spray formulations against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. We determined that iotacarrageenan in concentrations as low as 6 μg/mL inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. The concentrations of iota-carrageenan with activity against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro may be easily achieved through the application of nasal sprays as commonly used in several countries. Recently a double-blind, placebo-controlled study showed that iota-carrageenan in isotonic sodium chloride reduces ca. five times the risk of infection by SARS-CoV-2 in health care personnel. Further, xylitol at a concentration of 50 mg/mL (ca. 329 mM) was found to exert some antiviral action, though this preliminary finding needs further confirmation.
Supporting information S1 Table . Residual virus titer (TCID50/mL) after treatment with iota-carrageenan solutions in Diluent P1 (sodium chloride 9 mg/mL adjusted to pH 6-7). (PDF)
S2 Table. Statistical analysis of residual virus titers determined after each treatment with different concentrations of iota-carrageenan in
S8 Table. Statistical analysis of residual virus titers determined after each treatment with different concentrations of iota-carrageenan in Diluent P3 (xylitol 50 mg/mL adjusted to pH 6-7). (PDF)
S9 Table. Cell viability found by MTT assay after treatment with diluents and solutions of iota carrageenan without the addition of virus expressed as optical density and statistical analysis compared to untreated cells. (PDF) Author Contributions
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