摘要
Using mice infected with coxsackie B-3 virus (CVB3) as a viral myocarditis model, we observed the inhibitory effect of Astragalus membranaceus (AM) on CVB3-RNA replication in myocardial tissue of mice by RNA-RNA in situ hybridization with negative-strand RNA Probes labelled with ￣(35)S and quantitative imaging analysis of positive signals. The mechanism of its effect on CVB3-RNA replication has been investigated by detection of beta-interferon (β-IFN) as well. Results showed that the copy numbers of CVB3-RNA as well as the histologic scores (necrosis) in myocardial tissues of infected-AM treated mice were significantly lower than those in infected and normal saline treated mice, suggesting that AM could inhibit the replication of CVB3-RVA,but its effect on CVB3-RNA replication had no correlation with induction of β-IFN.
