in vitro anti-adenovirus activity of pomegranate (punica granatum l.) peel extract

background and aims: human adenoviruses can cause a diversity of clinical diseases, but there is no antiviral therapy formally approved by adenovirus infections. thus, antiviral agents derived from medicinal plants which are effective against adenoviruses infections are urgently required. therefore, this research was aimed to evaluate in vitro antiadenovirus activity of pomegranate (punica granatum l.) peel extract. methods: in this research, crude ethanol extract of pomegranate peel was prepared. anti-adenovirus activity of the extract was evaluated on hela cell line using mtt (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol–2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay. the 50% inhibitory concentration (ic50) and 50% cytotoxicity concentration (cc50) of the extract were determined using regression analysis. to determine antioxidant activity, total phenol content, and flavonoids content of the extract, the 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (dpph) assay; folin-ciocalteu method and aluminum chloride colorimetric method was used, respectively. results: the cc50 and ic50 of the extract were 165±10.1 and 18.6±6.7µg/ml, respectively. the selectivity index (si), the ratio of cc50 and ic50, was 8.89. the ic50 of dpph radical was 7.7±1.21 μg/ml, compare with butylated hydroxytoluene (bht), with ic50 of 25.41±1.89 μg/ml. the total phenol and flavonoid contents were 282.9 mggae/g and 136.6mg/g, respectively. this study revealed that the pomegranate (punica granatum l.) conclusion: peel extract exhibited anti-adenovirus activity, with si value of 8.9, suggesting its potential use as anti-adenovirus agents. also this extract with high phytoconstituents could be a promising source of medicinally important natural compound.