Protective effect of total flavonoids from Ixeris Sonchifolia on herpes simplex virus keratitis in mice.

To investigate the protective effect of Ixeris Sonchifolia (Bae.) Hance (ISH) extract on herpes simplex virus keratitis (HSK) in mice.A mouse model of HSK was established by inoculating 60 mice (60 right eyes) with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) by corneal scratch. The other 15 mice as blank control only received corneal scratch but without HSV-1. From the 2nd day after the successful modeling, the experimental group was fed with ISH total flavonoids (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg) orally, twice a day for 14 days. The model group and control group were given the same amount of normal saline. The pathological changes of cornea were observed once a day by slit lamp microscopy combined with fluorescein staining. The corneal histopathological examination, the survival status and the serum levels of interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-4 and interferon-gama (INF-γ) were performed at the end of the experiment.The result showed that ISH could significantly improve the corneal lesion degree, increase mice survival rate, and markedly increase the levels of IL-2 and INF-γ, reduce the levels of IL-4 in serum of mice.ISH could increase the anti-virus ability, promote the healing of corneal inflammation and alleviate the pathological damage of cornea, which suggested that ISH has a potential and valuable therapeutic effect on the HSK.