The same results were click here obtained when

the treatments were performed at 6 h p.i. (data not shown). Nevertheless, Su et al. (2008) demonstrated that UL52 (β) and UL13 (γ) mRNA levels were inhibited by digitoxin. The β-actin (Fig. 5D), was used as an internal standard, and the expression level of its mRNA was not affected. Since the glucoevatromonoside did not inhibit mRNA expression, the next step of HSV replication to be evaluated was the protein synthesis. Likewise glucoevatromonoside, acyclovir, furosemide + potassium chloride (KCl) as well as their combinations were also tested. The relevance of intracellular K+ to the viral replication has already been reported (Hartley et al., 2006, Hartley et al., 1993 and Nagai et al., 1972). Furosemide is a loop diuretic also known as an inhibitor of Na+K+Cl− cotransport activity (NKCC), which prevents the entry of K+ into the cells (Russel, 2000), and has also shown antiherpes activity (Hartley et al., 2006). Thus, furosemide was investigated in order to check if it was able to reduce the viral protein levels. Likewise, the supplementation of LGK-974 solubility dmso K+ by adding KCl to the culture medium was also tested to confirm if this ion was important for the viral inhibition caused by glucoevatromonoside. Fig. 6 shows

the effects of these treatments on some HSV-1 proteins and on β-actin that is use as an internal standard. As shown in Fig. 6, β-actin cell protein was expressed in all treatments; consequently, the tested drugs were not cytotoxic. The individual treatments with glucoevatromonoside (lane 5) and acyclovir (lane 3) reduced the levels of all tested viral proteins, when compared to virus control. The glucoevatromonoside completely inhibited all viral protein synthesis, whereas acyclovir was able to inhibit completely only the UL42 and the gB proteins expression. The treatment with furosemide (lane 8) did not reduce the levels of any viral protein, when compared to viral control indicating that this drug Acetophenone could not affect

this stage of HSV-1 replication or that the tested concentration was insufficient to induce protein synthesis inhibition. When the treatment was performed with glucoevatromonoside + acyclovir (lane 4) or glucoevatromonoside + furosemide (lane 9), a complete inhibition of protein levels was also detected, as well as when glucoevatromonoside (lane 5) was tested alone. Therefore, it was not possible to verify synergistic effects between glucoevatromonoside and acyclovir or glucoevatromonoside and furosemide. However, the inhibition caused by glucoevatromonoside on HSV protein levels could indicate that the Na+K+ATPase has been inhibited for this compound, as it is a cardenolide and its inhibition ability is well established. This inhibition could reduce the K+ concentration, and the HSV replication will not occur as usual.