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Updated: Mar 20, 2026
Porcine Corneal Tissue Explant to Study the Efficacy of Herpes Simplex Virus-1 Antivirals
Published on: September 20, 2021
A novel rare sugar inhibitor of murine herpes simplex keratitis
Syed Muniruzzaman1, Megan McIntosh2, Ahamed Hossain1
1Department of Biology, Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, LA, USA.
Purpose:
To determine the therapeutic efficacy of a novel rare sugar, l-psicose, for the treatment of HSV-1 induced herpetic stromal keratitis (HSK) in a mouse eye model.
Methods:
One rare sugar l-psicose was assayed for HSV-1 inhibition of in vitro virus adsorption. The IC50 and IC90 values of l-psicose were determined using plaque reduction assay (PRA) in CV-1 cell. Female Balb/c mice were corneally infected with HSV-1, strain KOS-GFP; A topical eye drop treatment of l-psicose was started 24 h after infection and continued four times daily for ten consecutive days. The severity of HSK was monitored by slit lamp examination in a masked fashion and Infectious HSV-1 shedding was determined by PRA.
Results:
l-psicose was found to have anti-viral activity in vitro at an IC50 dose of 99.5 mM and an IC90 dose of 160 mM. Topical eye drop treatment with 200 mM l-psicose in PBS solution significantly reduced the severity of HSK compared to the mock treatment group. The in vivo mouse ocular model results of l-psicose therapy correlated with accelerated clearance of virus from eye swabs.
Conclusion:
The results suggest that topical treatment with rare sugar l-psicose has efficacy against HSK through inhibition of HSV-1.
