Evaluation of antiviral activity of plant extracts against foot and mouth disease virus in vitro.

The aim of this study was to evaluate antiviral activity of chloroformic leaves extracts of three plants: Azadirachta indica, Moringa oleifera and Morus alba against Foot and Mouth disease virus using MTT assay (3-(4, 5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide). Antiviral and cytotoxic activity of each extract was evaluated as cell survival percentage and results were expressed as Means ± S.D. The concentrations which resulted in cell survival percentages of greater than 50% are considered to be effective antiviral concentrations. From the tested plant extracts, Moringa oleifera showed potent antiviral activity (p<0.05) while Azadirachta indica showed significant antiviral activity in the range of 1-50μ/ml & 12-100μ/ml respectively. In contrast no antiviral activity was observed by Morus alba as all the tested concentration resulted in significant reduction (p<0.05) in cell survival percentage.