Herbal medicinal products have a long-standing history of use in the therapy of common respiratory infections. We sought to assess the potential of five validated herbal extracts regarding their ability to restrict SARS-CoV-2 replication in vitro: Bronchipret thyme-ivy (BRO TI), Bronchipret thyme-primrose (BRO TP), Imupret (IMU), Sinupret extract (SINx) and Tonsipret (TOP). Vero cells were incubated with different concentrations of herbal extracts and infected with SARS-CoV-2 for 48 hours. The inhibition of viral replication was assessed by determination of the viral RNA load in the cell culture supernatant using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). SARS-CoV-2 RNA load was reduced by non-cytotoxic concentrations of BRO-TP (up to approximately 1,000-fold) and, to a lesser extent, IMU and TOP (approximately 10-fold). Some herbal extracts showed a promising in vitro effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2, suggesting an antiviral potential of herbal medicinal products. The potential of herbal medicines to restrict SARS-CoV-2 and to treat COVID-19 should be investigated further in a clinical setting.

中文翻译：

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一项草药研究表明，草药提取物具有抑制SARS-CoV-2的潜力。

草药产品在治疗常见的呼吸道感染方面已有悠久的历史。我们试图评估五种经过验证的草药提取物在体外限制SARS-CoV-2复制的潜力：Bronchipret百里香（BRO TI），Bronchipret百里香月见草（BRO TP），Imupret（IMU），Sinupret提取物（SINx）和Tonsipret（TOP）。将Vero细胞与不同浓度的草药提取物一起孵育，并用SARS-CoV-2感染48小时。通过使用定量聚合酶链反应（qPCR）测定细胞培养上清液中的病毒RNA负载来评估病毒复制的抑制作用。非细胞毒性浓度的BRO-TP（高达约1,000倍）和较小的IMU和TOP（约10倍）可降低SARS-CoV-2 RNA的载量。一些草药提取物显示出抗SARS-CoV-2的有希望的体外效果，表明草药产品具有抗病毒潜力。应在临床环境中进一步研究草药限制SARS-CoV-2和治疗COVID-19的潜力。