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Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1976 July; 10(1): 28–33.
PMCID: PMC429684
Antiviral Effect of Pyran Against Systemic Infection of Mice with Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2
Ronald S. McCord, Mary K. Breinig, and Page S. Morahan
Department of Microbiology, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23298
Abstract
The immunomodulator pyran markedly protected 5-week-old mice from lethal intravenous infection with herpes simplex virus type 2. The 50% lethal dose was increased almost 100-fold in pyran-treated mice as compared with controls. Although the protection was not as marked in older mice (10 and 16 weeks old), there was a significant increase in mean survival time. When the pathogenesis of herpesvirus disease was monitored in control and drug-treated mice, the effect of pyran was most evident in the spinal cord, where virus was recovered from 20 of 25 control mice and from only 6 of 25 pyran-treated mice. There was also a significant reduction in the titer of virus present, and virus appeared later in the spinal cord of pyran-treated mice than in control mice. The protective effect of pyran was observed only when the drug was administered 24 h before viral challenge, was seen after both intraperitoneal and intravenous injection, and was not due to direct inactivation of the virus.
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Selected References
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