Identification of effective anti-HCV and anti-HIV royal jelly constituents and their acute toxicity evaluation in Albino rats

• Published in: Food and chemical toxicology 2023-12, Vol.182, p.114170-114170, Article 114170
• Main Authors: Habashy, Noha H, Hamouda, Asmaa F, Abu Serie, Marwa M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0278-6915; 1873-6351
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2023.114170

Few studies on royal jelly's (RJ) antiviral activities and toxicity have been conducted. Here, we investigated the antioxidant properties of RJ that was fractionated into soluble fraction (SF), non-soluble fraction (NSF), water-soluble protein fraction (crude protein fraction, CPF), PF , PF , PF , and PF . The PFs were identified by SDS-PAGE, and phenolic constituents of SF were detected by HPLC. The qualitative anti-HCV, immunomodulatory, and predicted impact of the studied fractions on ERK2/MAPK14 (activated by HCV) were investigated. The influences of RJ fractions on HIV CD4, reverse-transcriptase, and integrase were examined. The acute toxicity of RJ, SF, NSF, and CPF-PF (all CPF except PF ) was tested. Results showed that RJ had potent antioxidant efficiency, and its SF contains functional phenolic compounds. PF , PF , and PF only showed anti-HCV potency, and PF had an immunomodulatory effect against HCV and predicted inhibitory influence on ERK2/MAPK14. RJ-PFs, particularly PF , showed the most effective anti-HIV ingredients. A single ip injection of RJ fractions at different concentrations revealed that SF was the safest one. Whereas NSF was the most toxic at 700-5000 mg/kg b.w., its toxicity was reversed spontaneously after seven days. Thus, this study provides valuable information about the antiviral activities and toxicity of RJ constituents.