Medicinal Plants of Togo

Further studies it-ere done on the antiviral activities of 10 species of Togolese medicinal plants, previously shown to possess activity against herpes simpler virus (HSV). The dominant activity in all cases was virucidal (direct inactivation of virus particles), although Adansonia digitata extracts also appeared to have intracellular antiviral activities as well, which could indicate the presence of multiple antiviral compounds, or a single compound with multiple actions. In the seven most active extracts, the anti-HSV activity was considerably enhanced by light, especially UVA (long wavelength UV), although they all showed "dark" antiviral activity as well. Thus, all the extracts contained antiviral photosensitizers. In all tests, the rootbark and leaf extracts of A. digitata were the most potent.