Acanthus montanus for COVID-19

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in a significant number of fatalities globally, establishing it as a critical and urgent public health concern. Phytochemicals may serve as a valuable source of effective and safer therapeutic agents against SARS-CoV-2. The lack of sanctioned treatments or vaccinations remains a significant concern, necessitating the development of novel pharmaceuticals. Computer-aided drug design has significantly accelerated the drug research and development process by reducing both costs and time. Natural compounds derivatives demonstrate significant effects on viral replication and support future research in the development of novel therapeutics. Acanthus montanus (Nees) T. Anderson (Acanthaceae) is notable shrubby herb, which is commonly used for culinary and medicinal purposes. This study seeks to assess and evaluate the bioactive compounds present in Acanthaceae leaves that may be utilized in drug design for the treatment of COVID-19. The crystal structure of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease was obtained from a protein sequence database, specifically the Protein Data Bank. The bioactive compounds in Acanthaceae were identified through Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) analysis. The main protease of SARS-CoV-2 plays a critical role in the synthesis of polyproteins, which encompasses viral maturation and the assembly of nonstructural proteins, thereby positioning it as a promising target for antiviral intervention. Additionally, the bioactive compounds within the Acanthaceae family were evaluated in accordance with Lipinski’s rule of five to assess their drug-like molecular characteristics. Furthermore, molecular docking analysis was performed utilizing the PyRx (version 0.8) software, and a comprehensive examination of the interactions between SARS-CoV-2 and the bioactive compounds in Acanthaceae was carried out using the computational software. Among the 19 bioactive compounds that were successfully docked, Naringin, Kaempferol, Progesterol, Quercetin, Stigmasterol, and Rutin trihydrate exhibited the lowest binding energy against SARS-CoV-2, according to the virtual screening results. These compounds demonstrate significant potential as viral inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 when compared to the standard drug Nirmatrelvir. Additional in vivo and in vitro investigations are recommended to validate the findings of this study and to furnish more robust evidence.

Background: Gabon faced COVID-19 with more than 49,000 individuals tested positive and 307 recorded fatalities since the first reported case in 2020. A popular hypothesis is that the low rate of cases and deaths in the country was attributed to the use of medicinal plants in prevention and treatment. This study aimed to document the plants used for remedial and preventive therapies by the Gabonese population during the COVID-19 pandemic and to pinpoint specific potential plant species that merit further investigation.Methods: An ethnobotanical survey involving 97 participants was conducted in Libreville. Traditional healers and medicinal plant vendors were interviewed orally using a semi-structured questionnaire sheet, while the general population responded to an online questionnaire format. Various quantitative indexes were calculated from the collected data and included the relative frequency of citation (RFC), use value (UV), informant consensus factor (ICF), relative importance (RI), and popular therapeutic use value (POPUT). One-way ANOVA and independent samples t-test were used for statistical analyses. p-values ≤0.05 were considered significant.Results: The survey identified 63 plant species belonging to 35 families. Prevalent symptoms treated included fever (18%), cough (16%), fatigue (13%), and cold (12%). The demographic data highlighted that 52.58% of male subjects (p > 0.94) aged 31–44 years were enrolled in the survey, of which 48.45% (p < 0.0001) and 74.73% (p < 0.99) of informants had university-level education. In addition, the results indicated that a total of 66% of the informants used medicinal plants for prophylaxis (34%), for both prevention and treatment (26%), exclusively for treatment (3%), and only for prevention (3%) while suffering from COVID-19, against 34% of the participants who did not use plants for prevention or treatment. Annickia chlorantha, Citrus sp., Alstonia congensis, Zingiber officinale, and Carica papaya emerged as the most commonly cited plants with the highest RFC (0.15–0.26), UV (0.47–0.75), and RI (35.72–45.46) values. Most of these plants were used either individually or in combination with others.Conclusion: The survey reinforces the use of traditional medicine as a method to alleviate COVID-19 symptoms, thereby advocating for the utilization of medicinal plants in managing coronavirus infections.