ANTIVIRAL AGENT AND PROCESS FOR PREPARING THE SAME

Abstract: An anti-viral agent comprising as the effective component, an alkali extract of mangroves, Momordica charantia, and Aspalathus linearis belonging to Leguminosae family. The effective component is essentially consists of acidic polysaccharides and shows an antioxidant activity and free radical (reactive oxygen species)-scavenging activity. The agent is effective against retrovirus such as human immuno deficiency virus (HIV), with no side-effects on human and/or animals.

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an anti-viral agent comprising acidic polysaccharides having an antioxidant activity and a free radical (reactive oxygen species)-scavenging activity extracted as an active component from Aspalathus linearis belonging to the Leguminosae family, mangroves, and Momordica charantia, and which are effective against retroviruses such as human immuno deficiency virus (HIV), with no side-effects on human and/or animals, easy to ingest daily and have preventive activity against the virus infection, and also relates to a process of manufacturing the same. BACK GROUND OF THE INVENTION Numerous anti-viral agents are known heretofore. However, most of the anti-viral agents developed so far are costly, and have weak efficacy and usually have side-effects which might have been severe and serious. There are many diseases caused by viruses such as influenza, hepatitis, measles, Japanese encephalitis, human T-cell leukemia, and AIDS, and unfortunately though there are few effective chemotherapy which show a definite effectiveness against these kinds of viral diseases, and in particular there is no medicine which is sufficiently effective against retroviruses which cause human T-cell leukemia or AIDS, without side-effects. Moreover, there are no anti-viral agents known which can be ingestable daily like food and drink and have preventative effects with no side-effects. Alkaline extracts of Asphatatus linearis are disclosed to be used as colored and tasty tea extract (see JP-A-07039339). Recently, hot water and organic solvent extracts of Asphalatus linearis are recognized effective against virus (see JP-A-05271062) but the reason is still unknown and a research for searching a stronger anti virus agent has been continued. The purpose of the present invention is to resolve the above mentioned problems and to provide an anti-viral agent having an anti-oxidant activity and free radical-scavenging activity which is effective against retroviruses and has a protective activity without side-effects; and to provide a process of manufacturing anti-viral agent. DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The inventors of this application undertook an extensive research in order to resolve the above mentioned problems and discovered that acidic polysaccharides obtained from mangrove, Momordica charantia L., and Aspalathus linearis, have a strong anti-viral activity, an anti-oxidant activity and a free radical-scavenging activity, and they have no side-effects and are safe on human and/or animals, and thus the present invention was developed. Acidic polysaccharides stated above can be obtained by an alkaline extract method of mangrove, Momordica charantia L., and Aspalathus linearis, which contain an uronic acid, neutral sugars and reducing sugars. And further by hydrolyzing the acidic polysaccharides obtained from the plants in an acid, an anti-viral agent containing disaccharides and trisaccharides is produced. THE BEST MODE OF THE INVENTION Preferable plants for extraction are mangrove, Momordica charantia L., and Aspalathus linearis belonging to the Leguminosae family, etc.. A further research on acidic polysaccharides obtained from plants shows that the polysaccharides containing uronic acids, neutral sugars and reducing sugars have a very strong antioxidant activity and a free radical scavenging activity and an anti viral effects. The acidic polysaccharides having these features are obtained by an alkaline hot water extraction method. The effective ingredients of this invention is obtained by extracting the respective plants in hot water, such as mangrove, Momordica charantia L., and Aspalathus linearis belonging to the Leguminosae family, etc.. and then by adding an alkaline solution to the residues from the first hot water extraction, the alkaline extracts are obtained. In the hot water extraction process, the amount of water may be 10 to 100 times of the weight of Aspalathus linearis and preferably the plants were extracted at 70 - 100 °C for 30 minutes to 4 hours. After extraction in hot water, the residue plants may be dried under the sunlight or indoors for 1-3 days. Examples of the alkaline solution includes a sodium hydroxide, a potassium hydroxide, an ammonium hydroxide (ammonia solution), a sodium bicarbonate, a sodium carbonate, etc, and a known method of extraction such as a heat extraction is used for alkaline extraction. An isolation of extracted solution may be carried out by known methods such as a filtration, a decantation, or a centrifugation. An ethanol, an acetone, etc., may be used as extraction solvents and the extract can be dried up by known methods such as a freeze-dry method, or a spray-dry method. To isolate and to purify the acidic polysaccharides from the extract, an ethanol is added to the crude alkaline extract to bring the ethanol concentration 25%-75% (v/v) and keep standing for 30 minutes to one night at 4 °C, then the precipitate is centrifuged and dried to finally obtain the acidic polysaccharides having an anti-oxidative and a free radical-scavenging activity. The acidic polysaccharides having anti-oxidative and free radical-scavenging activity contain 21% of uronic acid, 49% of neutral sugar, and 26% of reducing sugar in case of Aspalathus linearis. The acidic polysaccharides are further hydrolyzed in an acid at 75 °C-150 °C for 3 hours to 24 hours, and an oligosaccharides containing disaccharides and tri saccharides are obtained. The concentration of the acid may be in the range of 0.5N to 3N. Examples of the acid are a hydrochloric acid, a sulfuric acid, a nitric acid, a trifluoroacetic acid they are used as known methods for acid hydrolysis. The effective ingredients of the extract may be mixed with a suitable carrier such as an excipient, a binding agent, or a diluent, and provided in the various forms, such as granules, powder, hard capsules, soft capsules, an ointment, a syrup, suppositories, an injection; in any oral or non-oral form, and also may be ingested directly in the form of solution, powder, granules, tablets, emulsion, jelly, etc., or any other form, as a condensed solution or alternatively may be used by mixed with other foods or beverages. The dosage of the invention depends on the symptom and the status of disease, in case of liquid form, it is preferable to take 2 to 500ml per day of 1 to 1000mg/l concentration and in case of powder form, 0.1 to 5g/day is preferable. An acute toxicity test of the acidic polysaccharides of this invention using rats was conducted . No animals died in the toxicity test and no abnormal results were observed in the biochemical and pathological examination. Example 1 Aspalathus linearis leaves containing sprigs were cut into 5 mm length, and subjected to a rolling process, an enzyme fermentation, and to drying process under sunlight to obtain dried leaves. 3g of the dried leaves(with stem) were extracted with 100 ml of 85 °C hot water for 3 hours, and the residue leaves after hot water extraction were dried in indoor. 50 ml of 1% sodium hydroxide solution was poured into the residue leaves, and were shaked vigorously at 45 °C for 3 hours. A crude alkaline extract solution was obtained with a filtration through one layer of gauze. The alkaline extract was freeze-dried and the dried powder of Aspalathus linearis was obtained. The powder was dissolved in water, and a 0.1 M sodium acetate was added into the dissolved extract. Then an ethanol was added into the extract to bring 25%-75% concentration, and kept standing for more than 30 minutes at 4 °C. Acidic polysaccharides having anti-oxidative activity was obtained by centrifuging the precipitate which contained 22.5% of uronic acid, 50.5% of neutral sugar, and 26.5% of reducing sugar. The antioxidative activity of the acidic polysaccharide was measured by autooxidation of linoleic acid at 30 °C, and the rate of autooxidation after 3 weeks (the antioxidative activity) was 5% against the water (control); namely in the case of water the rate of autooxidation was 100%. Moreover, when the activity was expressed as the time reaching to 50% aoutooxidation of linoleic acid, the acidic polysaccharides from Aspalathus linearis showed extremely low autooxidation level (below 5% autooxidation) even after 60 days. In this type of expression, antioxidative activity of the control (water) was 2 weeks. Furthermore, when the free radical-scavenging activity was measured by the method of electron spin resonance, the activity of the acidic polysaccharides was 4.7 x 10 3 units/g which is remarkably high activity. Example 2 The acidic polysaccharides obtained in Example 1 were applied to cultured MDCK cells or MA104 cells. Immediately after the addition of the acidic polysaccharides, MDCK cells were infected with influenza virus, and MA104 cells were infected with herpes virus, and then their respective plaque formation was examined. In the case of influenza virus the plaque formation was almost completely inhibited by 0.1 mg/ml concentration of the acidic polysaccharides, and in the case of herpes virus the plaque formation was inhibited more than 90% at the concentration of 1 µ g/ml of the acidic polysaccharides. Example 3 The acidic polysaccharides in Example 1 were applied to MT-4cells (2.5 x 10 4 cells/well) which were sterilized and infected with HIV. After culturing the cells for 5 days at 37 °C the number of viable cells was measured. The anti-viral (anti-HIV) activity was expressed as the concentration of the acidic polysaccharides showing 50% protection against HIV-induced cytopathogenicity. The EC 50 (50% effective concentration) was 15 µ g/ml. Example 4 The polysaccharides obtained in the example 1 were further hydrolyzed with 1N HCl at 75 °C for 4 hours and with 3N HCl at 100 °C for 13 hours and the precipitate and the supernatant were obtained which were applied to MT-4cells (2.5 x 10 4 cells/well) which were sterilized and infected with HIV. After culturing the cells for 5 days at 37 °C the number of viable cells was measured. The anti-viral (anti-HIV) activity was expressed as the concentration of the acidic polysaccharide showing 50% protection against HIV-induced cytopathogenicity. The EC 50 (50% effective concentration) of the acidic polysaccharide hydrolyzed with 1N HCl at 75 °C for 3 hours and with 3N HCI at 100 °C for 13 hours is shown in Table 1. Both the supernatants obtained by the acid hydrolysis described above were mainly a mixture of disaccharides and of trisaccharides. Anti-HIV Activity of Acidic Polysaccharides Hydrolyzed with HCl Anti-HIV activity (concentration of 50% protection) Supernatant (µ g/ml) Precipitate (µ g/ml) 1N hydrochloric acid at 75 °C 334.0 25.6 3N hydrochloric acid at 100 °C 35.4 24.5 Example 5 Sugar composition of the acidic polysaccharides obtained by example 1 with alcohol precipitation were analyzed by 2-aminopyridine method using High HPLC. Little amino acids was found, and the most of the composition comprises neutral sugars, most of which was glucose and 20 % of mannose was measured. However, an uronic acid was not detected by this measuring method. 1 g of dried powder contains 12.4% of uronic acid, 24.4% of neutral sugars, 13.1% of reducing sugars. The results of the analysis shows that 0.775 of glucose, 0.200 of mannose, 0.125 of galactose, 0.133 of fuctose, and 0.058 of galactosamine.( unit is expressed as µ mol/mg) Example 6 The alkaline extract(a crude extract) prepared in the Example 1 was dissolved in distilled water, and an ethanol was added into the aliquot to bring to 25% concentration, and kept standing for 30 minutes at 4 °C. The aliquot was centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 20 minutes and the precipitate was designated as 25P. The supematant was used for the further fractionation by 100 % ethanol; namely ethanol was further added into the supernatant to bring to 50% concentration, and centrifuged as above, and the precipitate was designated as 50P. The supernatant was used for the further fractionation by 100 % ethanol; namely ethanol was further added into the supernatant to bring to 75% concentration, and centrifuged as above, and the precipitate was designated as 75P. The anti-HIV activity of each fraction obtained as above is shown in Table 2. Anti-HIV activity of Alcohol Precipitate Anti-HIV activity (EC 50 ) (µ g/ml) 25P 119.0 50P 15.0 75P 3.7 Example 7 Ten one month old kittens were divided into two groups; one is control group which was given no acidic polysaccharides with foods and the other is an experimental group which was given 2 mg of the acidic polysaccharides obtained from the plants per day with foods for one month, and every kitten was injected several times with 0.5 ml of cat AIDS(feline immuno deficiency virus positive) blood. After the injection of the blood, the kittens have been observed next two months. An antibody value of the AIDS virus was inspected. 20% of the experimental group was infected with AIDS and 100% of the control group was infected. Possible Application Present invention provides an anti-viral agent with a preventive effect of new viral infection against human and animals, and shows a marked effect against retroviruses and have no side-effects on humans and animals and effective components can be ingested orally with daily foods.

Claims: A process of manufacturing an anti-viral agent comprising acidic polysaccharides from mangrove, Momordica charantia L. or Asphalathus linearis belonging to the Leguminosae family comprising the steps of extracting the respective plants in hot water, extracting the residues of the hot water extraction by an alkaline extraction method, adding ethanol to said crude alkaline extract to bring the concentration to 25%-75% and separating the precipitate by centrifugation. A process of manufacturing an anti-viral agent according to claim 1 wherein said precipitate is hydrolysed with acid. An anti-viral agent comprising acidic polysaccharides containing an uronic acid, a neutral sugar, and a reducing sugar obtainable by the process according to claims 1 or 2. An antiviral agent according to claim 3 wherein the acidic polysaccharides have an anti-oxidative activity and a free radical-scavenging activity. An antiviral agent according to claim 3 wherein the acidic polysaccharides contain disaccharides and tri-saccharides.

Inventors: NAKANO MASATOSHI, NAKANO, MASATOSHI
Applicants: MITSUI NORIN KK, NAKANO MASATOSHI, MITSUI NORIN CO., LTD., NAKANO, MASATOSHI
Application year: 1996
Main classification: A61K35
IPC codes: A61P31, A61K31, C07H3, A61K36, C07H1