Meng Wang

College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A & F University

1. Twenty five ‘heat-clearing and detoxifying’ herbs used in Chinese medicine were investigated for their cytopathic effects on the growth of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) in a chicken fibroblast cell line.

2. The five herbs with the highest virus inhibitory effects were Wrinkled Giant hyssop, Wild Chrysanthemum Flower, Anemarrhena Rhizome, Astragalus Root, Baikal skullcap root, and these were used in herbal formulations. Anti-NDV activities of four formulations were tested on the growth of NDV in the DF-1 fibroblast cell line.

3. Formulation II, containing Baikal skullcap root: Astragalus Root: Anemarrhena Rhizome (1:1:2) and formulation IV containing Anemarrhena Rhizome: Astragalus Root: Wild Chrysanthemum Flower (1:1:1), which had stronger anti-NDV activity in vitro, were used to determine the in vivo inhibitory effects of NDV infection in chickens. After treatment with the two formulations serum IgY titres against NDV were improved, and morbity was reduced in the NDV-infected chickens. The results suggest that the components in formulations II and IV had acted synergistically to improve resistance to Newcastle disease and provide a basis for the developing an anti-NDV herbal medicine.