Kaempferol inhibits Pseudorabies virus replication in vitro through regulation of MAPKs and NF-κB signaling pathways

Pseudorabies virus(PRV),in the family Herpesviridae,is a pathogen of Aujeszky’s disease,which causes great economic losses to the pig industry.Recent outbreaks of Pseudorabies imply that new control measures are urgently needed.The present study shows that kaempferol is a candidate drug for controlling PRV infection,as it possesses the ability to inhibit PRV replication in a dose-dependent manner in vitro.Kaempferol at a concentration of 52.40μmol L^(-1) could decrease PRV-induced cell death by 90%.With an 50%inhibitory concentration(IC50)value of 25.57μmol L^(-1),kaempferol was more effective than acyclovir(positive control)which has an IC50 value of 54.97μmol L^(-1).A mode of action study indicated that kaempferol inhibited viral penetration and replication stages,decreasing viral loads by 4-and 30-fold,respectively.Addition of kaempferol within 16 h post infection(hpi)could significantly inhibit virus replication,and viral genome copies were decreased by almost 15-fold when kaempferol was added at 2 hpi.Kaempferol regulated the NF-κB and MAPKs signaling pathways involved in PRV infection and changed the levels of the target genes of the MAPKs(ATF-2 and c-Jun)and NF-κB(IL-1α,IL-1βand IL-2)signaling pathways.The findings of the current study suggest that kaempferol could be an alternative measure to control PRV infection.