Antiviral Effect of Tea Catechin EGCG on Influenza Virus FM1 Strain in Vitro

Objective To investigate the inhibitory effect of EGCG,the main components of tea catechin,on influenza A virus FM1 strain infection and on viral replication.Methods The cells were cultured for testing anti-viral titer.Cytopathic effect(CPE)test and the plaque reduction test were adopted to evaluate in-vitro anti-influenza virus actions by experimental treatment and protection strategies.Results The results of CPE and methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium(MTT)assay showed that EGCG at the concentrations of 4-32 mg/mL had obvious effect on inhibiting influenza virus and increasing cell survival rate(P 0.01)by the treatment and protection strategies.The results of plaque reduction test showed that therapeutic index(TI)of EGCG was 39.31 and 43.48 by the treatment and protection strategies respectively,indicating that EGCG had certain antiviral effect,which was as same as the results of CPE.Conclusion EGCG exerts certain antiviral effect on influenza A virus FM1 strain in vitro.