Inhibitory Effects of Ninety Nine Korean Plants on HumanImmunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Protease Activity

Ninety nine extracts from Korean plants were screened for their inhibitory activities on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 protease by an HPLC method. The protease inhibitory activities were determined by incubating the extracts in reaction mixtures containing protease and substrate (His-Lys-Ala-Arg-Val-Leu-(p- NO2-Phe)- Glu-Ala-Nle-Ser-NH2) to perform proteolytic cleavage reactions. Of the extracts tested, the water extracts of Viburnum awabuki (stem and leaves) and Distylium racemosum (leaves) had the highest protease inhibitory activities at a concentration of 100 g/mL. Activity-guided fractionation, revealed that the n-butanol fraction of the V. awabuki extract and the ethyl acetate fraction from the D. racemosum extract had the greatest inhibitory activity on HIV-1 protease. KCI Citation Count: 0