Petersburg scientists have found a spice that blocks COVID-19

Employees of the St. Petersburg Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (INC RAS) found that black pepper contains a compound that can block the spread of CORONAVIRUS. The studied alkoloids can become the basis for creating effective dietary supplements for the prevention and treatment of covid-19 , Vedomosti writes with reference to the press service of the scientific institution. The results of the work of scientists with experimental data on the use of unique cell-free test systems have already been published in the journal Biomedicines.

The institute recalled that drugs that block proteins on the surface of human cells, to which the infectious agent is attached, are responsible for reducing the spread of covid. But since the coronavirus is constantly mutating, proteins can constantly change - because of this, such drugs lose their effectiveness. Petersburg scientists decided to study substances that can block not protein interaction, but the fusion of lipid shells (membranes) of human cells and coronavirus (this fusion is a prerequisite for the penetration of the virus into the cell).

Olga Ostroumova, Chief Researcher at the Institute of Scientific Centers of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told journalists: “For this, alkaloids of plant origin were used. For example, the most effective compound, piperine, found in black pepper has long been known and used as part of bioactive supplements for various medical purposes.”

When it was established at the Institute of Cytology that piperine was the most effective substance, scientists from the St. Pasteur. They tested the compound on the Wuhan strain of coronavirus and monkey cells. The researchers confirmed that piperine alters the properties of the viral lipid envelope, after which it loses its ability to fuse with human cell membranes. That is, the virus does not penetrate into the cells, and thus, the spread of SARS-CoV-2 stops. But the most important thing is that “covid” will not be able to become resistant to piperine, since virus mutations practically do not affect its lipid membrane (and the virus cannot completely get rid of it, since this is incompatible with its life activity), Ostroumova explained.

Vedomosti clarifies that the results obtained by scientists have already attracted the attention of the pharmaceutical industry. So far, there are no registered drugs in the world that block the intermembrane interaction of the cell and the coronavirus.