Lonicera japonica for COVID-19

IntroductionTraditional Chinese medicine (TCM) pharmacies in Taiwan have been a vital healthcare resource in Chinese communities, with generations of accumulated TCM knowledge playing a crucial role in infectious disease prevention and treatment. However, as proprietors age and the industry declines, this valuable ethnomedicinal knowledge faces the risk of being lost. Therefore, documenting and analyzing the knowledge used by Taiwanese TCM pharmacies in combating COVID-19 is essential for the preservation and application of ethnomedicine.MethodsThis study employed a stratified sampling method to survey 106 TCM pharmacies in Taiwan, collecting 61 TCM formulae against COVID-19. The medicinal materials were compiled, and analysis were conducted using relative frequency of citation (RFC) and the Phi correlation coefficient to examine the relationships among TCMs. Furthermore, cluster analysis was applied to establish TCM combination patterns.ResultsThis study recorded a total of 70 medicinal materials and identified 30 commonly used ones, categorizing them into four major groups: Group A (heat-clearing and detoxifying): As similar as NRICM101, suitable for moderate to severe cases. Group B (heat-clearing and tonifying): Suitable for mild cases, with both antiviral and immune-boosting effects. Group C (symptom relief): Primarily used for relieving cough, expelling phlegm, and alleviating discomfort. Group D (tonifying and strengthening): Suitable for uninfected individuals to enhance immunity.DiscussionThis study successfully documented and analyzed the TCM usage patterns of Taiwanese TCM pharmacies in combating COVID-19, revealing their alignment with modern TCM theories. The findings not only contribute to the preservation of ethnobotanical knowledge but also serve as a reference for developing herbal prevention strategies and healthcare products, ensuring that traditional medical wisdom can play a greater role within the modern healthcare system.

BackgroundIn the current era of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), we were interested in searching for medications other than the currently available antiviral drugs Paxlovid and Molnupiravir that cause minimal side effects and do not harm the human body. Honeysuckle extract (HSE) is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that has been shown to exert antiviral effects in other studies. However, no studies have indicated whether HSE has an inhibitory effect on SARS-CoV-2.MethodsWe prepared HSEs from dried honeysuckle flowers. We performed a cell viability assay, median tissue culture infection dose (TCID50) assay, and qRT‒PCR, and calculated the virus titers using the Reed-Muench method to evaluate the inhibitory effects of aqueous and alcohol HSEs on SARS‒CoV‒2 and explore the possible underlying mechanisms.ResultsIn this study, post-treatment with HSE resulted in dose-dependent decreases in both the RNA levels and TCID50 of SARS-CoV-2 in Vero E6 cells; treatment with 50 μg/ml and 100 μg/ml alcohol HSEs achieved up to 95.323% and 92.587% inhibition, respectively. Moreover, pre-treatment with aqueous HSEs effectively reduced the RNA levels, and TCID50 of SARS-CoV-2 by up to 99.684%, and alcohol HSEs achieved up to 99.921% inhibition; both of these effects occurred in a dose-dependent manner.ConclusionThe results suggest that HSEs may have the potential to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection.