Cell Viability and Cytotoxic Testing of Seventeen Asian Plant Extracts toward MARC-145 Cells by MTT Assay

Abstract

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is characterized by reproductive failure of sows and respiratory problems of nursery and growing pigs. Present management strategies mainly focus on the  prevention of infection using vaccination but are not sufficient to prevention. Previous studies have discovered a few natural compounds and compositions that have antiviral activities on PRRSV. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the cell cytotoxicity effect of 17 Asian plant extracts on MARC-145 cells using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assaybefore application to the anti-PRRSV evaluation in vitro.The maximum non-cytotoxic concentration (MNCT) was used to determine the 90% cell viability detection. The results showed that cytotoxicity of tested compounds were different compounds on the same cell varied remarkably. Three compounds wereHouttuyniacordata, Artemisia argyi and Pogostemoncablinhad a low toxicity with MNTC of 2-2 dilution. Eleven compounds were presented a moderate toxicity witch MNTC ranged from 2-3-2-6 dilution. While three compounds wereCurcuma longa, Acorusmacrospadiceus (stem) and Acorusmacrospadiceus(leaf) had a high toxicity with MNTC of ≥ 2-11 dilution. This study indicates that some compounds had not cytotoxicity on MARC-145 cells and may be useful for future application to the anti-PRRSV evaluation in vitro.