Fig. 2

AEE exhibits potent anti-HSV-1 activity. A Vero cells were infected with HSV-1 (MOI = 0.1) for 2 h in the presence of AEE (10, 5, 2.5 μg/ml) and were then subjected to plaque assays (left). The inhibitory rate was calculated according to the number of plaques (right). B Vero cells were infected with EGFP-HSV-1 (MOI = 0.1) for 24 h in the presence of AEE (10, 5, 2.5, 1.25 μg/ml), and fluorescent images were captured by microscopy (left). GFP fluorescence intensity was calculated by Image J software (right). Scale bar, 100 μm. C and D Vero cells were infected with HSV-1 (MOI = 0.1) in the presence of AEE for 24 h, and total DNA or RNA was extracted. The DNA copy numbers (C) or the mRNA expression levels (D) of viral genes were analyzed by RT-qPCR. E Vero cells were infected with HSV-1 (MOI = 1) for 24 h in the presence of AEE, and total protein was extracted for western blot analysis of viral protein ICP0 and gB. Data were presented as the means ± SD (n = 3). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 versus HSV-1-treated group, unpaired t test