In Vitro Anti-Rhinovirus Activity of Some Picornavirus Replication Inhibitors

The effect of several antiviral substances with different mode of action on the replication of human rhinovirus 14 (HRV-14) is the topic of the present study. Monolayer cultures of human cervical carcinoma (HeLa Ohio-I) cells in 96-well tissue culture plates were used. The antiviral effect against three different viral inoculation doses was tested by the neutral red uptake procedure in a CPE-inhibition setup. The following compounds were tested: ribavirin, arildone, disoxaril, S7, PTU-23, HBB and oxoglaucine (a newly characterized in this laboratory compound efficient against enteroviruses). Two of the compounds, HBB and oxoglaucine, showed the highest activity with a selectivity ratio (CC50/IC50) above 100 for the lowest viral inoculation dose of 100 CCID50. Ribavirin and disoxaril occupied intermediate position according to their antiviral effect, while the effect of arildone, PTU-23 and S-7 was not significant.