• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.221-229
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• 2020

Distylium racemosum is an evergreen tree growing wild on Jeju Island, which has been reported to exert biological activity. Obesity is induced by genetic, metabolic, environmental, and other factors. Among these, certain bacterial and viral infections have been shown to cause obesity, which is known as infectobesity. Human adenovirus (HAdV)-36 is one of the viruses that are known to cause infectobesity in humans. Unlike extensive research on preventing obesity and developing anti-obesity drugs, little research has been conducted specifically on the prevention and treatment of infectobesity. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of phytochemicals from D. racemosum on the replication of HAdV-36. A549 cells infected with HAdV-36 were treated with an ethyl acetate fraction of a D. racemosum leaf extract (DRE), and the virus titer was calculated based on the hemagglutination (HA) titer. The results showed a concentration-dependent inhibitory effect of DRE treatment on HA titers. DRE treatment was also found to inhibit the cytopathic effects of the virus and the expression of viral genes. Quercitrin was identified as the constituent of DRE exerting an inhibitory effect on HAdV-36 replication. This study shows that DRE can be used as a candidate substance for the development of treatment for HAdV-36 infections. In addition, this study provides a basis to further investigate DRE for the development of anti-infectobesity medication.