“The CBD inhibits structurally dissimilar viruses, suggesting that this molecule has a broad-spectrum antiviral effect, representing a valid alternative in emergency situations during viral epidemics, such as that caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in 2020."
| For further information: "CBD and THC effective to treat covid-19"
This is what was highlighted by study published in Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, conducted by researchers from the University of Buenos Aires, the National University of San Martìn, the National University of Mar del Plata and the National Council of Scientific and Technical Investigation, who wanted to investigate the antiviral activity of CBD in vitro.
CBD: a powerful natural antiviral
Starting from the Zika virus and then expanding to other viruses, researchers have confirmed that CBD showed strong antiviral activity against all viruses tested in different cell lines, with maximum effective concentration values halved.
Explaining the mechanism of action, the authors stated that CBD could “interfere with early interactions between the virion and the host cell. However, our results also revealed that intermediate viral stages such as protein translation are significantly affected.”
“We give hope to the use of CBD by demonstrating the in vitro effectiveness of CBD as an antiviral molecule broad spectrum which can be used against different viruses. However, future studies are needed to confirm this proof of principle of CBD as an antiviral in animal models,” the researchers concluded.
* Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash
