A sensitive assay system screening antiviral compounds against herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2.

A highly sensitive and accurate assay system was developed for in vitro evaluation of anti-herpes simplex virus (anti-HSV) agents using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and human embryonic lung fibroblast (MRC-5) cells. This assay system was found to be highly sensitive for both HSV-1 and -2. Confluent MRC-5 cells were infected with either HSV-1 KOS strain or HSV-2 G strain of 25 TCID50 in the presence of various concentrations of test compounds. The optical density of formazan was used to determine cell viability. The EC50 values of acyclovir and several other anti-HSV agents were found to be similar to those obtained by the plaque reduction method. These results indicate that this MTT assay is useful for screening anti-HSV-1 and -2 agents.