SCREENING OF INDONESIAN PLANT-EXTRACTS FOR ANTI-HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS TYPE-1 (HIV-1) ACTIVITY

Of 30 Indonesian plant extracts tested for their human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) inhibitory activities, six were shown to be effective by assays using HIV-l-infected MT-4 cells: a methanol extract of mahoni (bark of Swietenia mahagoni) and water extracts of benalu teh (stems and branches of Loranthus parasiticus), kiules (fruit of Helicteres isora), supratul (fruits of Sindora sumatrana), sambiloto (leaves of Andrographis paniculata) and temu ireng (rhizoma of Curcuma aeruginosa). Their EDS, values ranged from 4.2 to 175 mu g/mL. The samples also suppressed the formation of syncytia in co-cultures of MOLT-4 and MOLT-4/HIV-1 cells, The most potent inhibitor was a methanol extract of mahoni, which also showed a significant inhibition of HIV-1 protease.