¹Students Research Committee, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran
²Medical Plants Research Center, Basic Health Sciences Institute, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran
³Cellular and molecular Research Center, Basic Health Sciences Institute, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran
⁴Clinical Biochemistry Research Center, Basic Health Sciences Institute, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran DOI : 10.12991/mpj.2017.10 The emergence of medicine resistance strains of influenza A viruses to the chemical drogs lead to the development of alternative herbal compounds that inhibit the virus replication. Therefore, the aim of this research was to investigate in vitro anti-influenza A viruses activity, antioxidant potential, total phenolic, and flavonoid content of a total of 12 hydro alcoholic crude extracts obtained from 8 kinds of medicinal plants. Antiinfluenza A viruses activity of the extracts was investigated by the using of MDCK cell line and MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol– 2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) method. Both 50% inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) and 50% cytotoxicity concentration (CC₅₀) of the extracts were identified using regression analysis. The antioxidant activity, total phenol, and flavonoid content of the extracts were determined using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, Folin-Ciocalteu method, and aluminum chloride colorimetric method, respectively. The results demonstrated that there was high activity against influenza virus for Peganum harmala L., Equisetum arvense L., and Punica granatum L, extracts with IC₅₀ value of 9.1 (CI95%:7.3-11.3), 6.45 (CI95%: 4.5-9.23), and 104.5 (CI95%: 82.8-131.8), respectively. DPPH radical scavenging activity showed that both Equisetum arvense L. and Punica granatum L. demonstrated the highest antioxidant activity with IC₅₀ value of 6.5, 6.8 and 7.7 μg/mL, respectively. According to the results, some of these extracts might be further analyzed to develop effective anti-influenza factors. Keywords : Antiviral activity, medical plant, Influenza virus, Antioxidant potential