Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2025, Vol. 56 ›› Issue (11): 5901-5911.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2025.11.045

• Clinical Veterinary Medicine • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Analysis of the Effect of Artemisia argyi Essential Oil on the Inhibition of the Proliferation of Chicken Marek's Disease Virus in vitro

ZHANG Yuan1(), LI Mingyang2, LIANG Yue2, YU Xiangqian2, WANG Yan2, CHEN Jiyi2, LIU Haixia2, LIAN Xue2,*(), QIAN Yingjuan1,*()   

  1. 1. MOE Joint International Research Laboratory of Animal Health and Food Safety, College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
    2. School of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Jiangsu Vocational College of Agriculture and Forestry, Jurong 212400, China
  • Received:2025-01-20 Online:2025-11-23 Published:2025-11-27
  • Contact: LIAN Xue, QIAN Yingjuan E-mail:1351040233@qq.com;lianxue@jsafc.edu.cn;yqian@njau.edu.cn

Abstract:

This study aims to investigate the effects of Artemisia argyi essential oil on the in vitro replication of Marek's disease virus and elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms involved. The cytotoxicity of AAEO on chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) cells was determined by the CCK-8 method, and the optimal concentration range of AAEO was screened; The cells were treated and samples were collected according to the selected optimal concentration. The effect of AAEO on the proliferation of MDV in vitro was detected by plaque analysis and virus titer assay.The mechanism of AAEO inhibiting MDV proliferation was analyzed at the molecular level by RT-qPCR and Western blot. The results showed that AAEO had no cytotoxic effect on CEF cells in the range of 60-360 μg·mL-1.In the AAEO treatment group, the virus plaque was significantly reduced and reduced, the virus titer was decreased, and the expression of virus at the gene level and protein level were decreased, indicating that AAEO can inhibit the replication of MDV in a dose-dependent manner. Through the screening of intracellular signaling pathways of AAEO, it was found that AAEO could down regulate the expression levels of phosphorylated ERK and STAT3 proteins, and down regulate the expression levels of IL-6 mRNA. Treatment of cells with the ERK inhibitor U0126 reduced viral replication when the intracellular ERK pathway was inhibited. AAEO effectively inhibits the in vitro proliferation of MDV in chickens. The antiviral mechanism may be associated with its suppression of IL-6/STAT3 signaling pathway and ERK pathway activation. This study demonstrates that AAEO exhibits significant anti-MDV activity, and the findings provide novel evidence for developing therapeutic agents against herpesviruses. The research outcomes offer new insights into the exploration of antiviral drug candidates targeting herpesvirus infections through natural product derivatives.

Key words: Marek's disease virus (MDV), Artemisia argyi essential oil (AAEO), Chicken embryo fibroblast cells, in vitro antiviral

CLC Number: