Apigenin inhibits infectious bronchitis virus replication in ovo

Abstract

– OBJECTIVE: Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), for which no effective drugs are available, is among the most important causes of economic loss within the poultry industry. Apigenin is a flavonoid that can be isolated from plants. Apigenin has low toxicity with anti-viral activity. However, the effects of apigenin against IBV remain unclear. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thus, here we investigate the anti-viral effect of apigenin on IBV using 10 day-old embryonated eggs by determining the virus titer by embryo infective doses50 (EID50/mL) and determining IBV genomes copy number (per µL) of allantoic fluid. RESULTS: We found that apigenin protected embryonated eggs from IBV. Additionally, apigenin reduced the log titer of the IBV with a significant correlation of up to 9.4 times at 2 µg/ egg. Also, apigenin appears to significantly reduce IBV genomes copy number (per µL) in the allantoic fluid. CONCLUSIONS: Apigenin may be a promising approach for the treatment of IBV, since it protects embryonated eggs from IBV in ovo and suppresses viral replication.