Development of propolis and essential oils containing oral/throat spray formulation against SARS-CoV-2 infection
Ebru Pelvan, Müge Serhatlı, Öznur Karaoğlu, Bülent Karadeniz, Ceyda Pembeci Kodolbaş, Neşe Aslı Öncü, Gamze Çakırca, Emel Damarlı, Günay Başdoğan, Gizem Mergen Duymaz, İsmail Emir Akyıldız, Gamze Düz, Sezer Acar, Yağmur Özhan, Hande Si̇pahi̇, Mohammad Charehsaz, Ahmet Aydın, Erdem Yeşilada, Cesarettin Alasalvar
Abstract
A broad range of evidence has confirmed that natural products and essential oils might have the potential to suppress COVID-19 infection. Therefore, this study aimed to develop an oral/throat spray formulation for prophylactic use in the oral cavity or help treatment modalities. Based on a reference survey, several essential oils, a cold-pressed oil, and propolis were selected, and cytotoxicity and antiviral activity of each component and the developed spray formulation were examined against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection using Vero E6 cells. Anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and analgesic activities as well as mutagenicity and anti-mutagenicity of the formulation were analysed. Forty-three phenolics were identified in both propolis extract and oral/throat spray. The spray with 1:640-fold dilution provided the highest efficacy and the cytopathic effect was delayed for 54 h at this dilution, and the antiviral activity rate was 85.3%. A combination of natural products with essential oils at the right concentrations can be used as a supplement for the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection.