Since 2019, the COVID-19 virus has caused severe lung damage and acute respiratory syndrome, leading to global epidemics with high morbidity and mortality. The world health organization has declared it a cause of the pandemic. At the beginning of 2020, many national and international organizations urgently took action to develop vaccines, and dozens of approved vaccines have been developed so far. Despite the significant effectiveness of vaccines, the continuation of deaths because of COVID-19 has increased people's interest in traditional medicine.
The uncertainty in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of many diseases, especially chronic diseases, has increased the interest in treatment methods other than modern medicine all over the world. It is stated that over 85% of the population in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East use herbal medicines as the first treatment option. Some compounds are obtained from plants, especially flavonoids; the quercetin, silymarin, polyphenolic compound glycyrrhizin, and curcumin have shown antiviral activity.
Sumac is the common name for a genus (Rhus) in the Anacardiaceae family that includes over 250 species of flowering plants. Many compounds such as fatty acids, phenolics, organic acids, essential oils, proteins, fibers, vitamins, and minerals have been isolated from different parts of the sumac plant. It is considered a reasonable treatment in traditional medicine because of its analgesic, anorexic, antidiarrheal, antiseptic, and antihyperglycemic properties. Djakpo and Yao reported that sumac contains potent antiviral properties. The bioactive compound of sumac with antiviral activity is polyphenol tetra-O-galloyl-β-d-glucose (TGG), a tannin. Ling et al. found that TGG exhibited significant inhibition against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Sherif et al. identified six polyphenolic compounds of Rhus spp as potential inhibitors to the SARS-CoV-2 major protease enzyme (Mpro; 6LU7).
Key words: Sumac, COVID-19, traditional medicine
|
