Antiviral Activity of Belladonna During Japanese Encephalitis Virus Infection via Inhibition of Microglia Activation and Inflammation Leading to Neuronal Cell Survival.

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is the main cause of viral encephalitis resulting in more than 68 000 clinical cases every year with case fatality rate as high as 30-40% for which no specific treatments are available. We have recently exhibited belladonna may be widely applicable for the treatment of various neurological disorders. Therefore, we developed a hydroalcoholic formulation of belladonna (B200) consisting of atropine and scopolamine and showed its antiviral efficacy against JEV infection. B200 treatment increases neuronal cell survival by reducing JEV induced cytopathic effects which were evident from significant reduction in necrotic cell population by flow-cytometry analysis and caspase 3 and 8 enzymatic activities. B200 treatment was found to reduce the intracellular JEV level observed by significant reduction in JEV-fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) expression in both neurons and microglia. Because microglia plays a crucial role in JEV pathogenesis, we further investigated the anti-JEV effects of B200 on human microglia cells and elucidated the mechanism of action by performing whole-transcriptome sequencing. Gene expression analysis revealed that B200 reduces the pro-apoptotic and inflammatory gene expression observed by significant reduction in