Panavir

Panavir® is a high-molecular-weight fraction of the polysaccharides extracted from Solanum tuberosum (potato) shoots. The chemical composition of Panavir® is rather variable: glucose (10–67%), galactose (2–27%), arabinose (3–15%), rhamnose (2–10%), mannose (0.1–5%), and xylose (0.1–3%). It also contains some uronic acids (2–5%), traces of lipids, and peptides and proteins, first of all, RuBisCo (less than 1% in total). The absence of iodine coloring indicates the cross-linking of the hexose polymers, which prevents the formation of the channel-type clathrates responsible required for the characteristic blue coloring.

At pH 7 and the temperature of 36 °C, the solubility of the Panavir® is 13 g per 100 g. Panavir® solution is the monodisperse colloidal system, composed of the spherical particles. The zeta potential of the particles was negative and equals about −25 mV. According to the ultra-sonic acoustic spectral analysis, the average particles' diameter was about 140 nm, while according to the results of the DLS examination, it was about 350 nm. EM investigation of a residual after drying of the solution gave an estimate of about 250 nm. The average molecular weight of these particles was estimated as 3·109 Da.

Panavir® was successfully used as an antiviral immune-modulating drug, as well as an anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial agent that was reported earlier for other types of polysaccharides. The antiviral activity of Panavir® was demonstrated for a number of viral infections in experiment and clinic, such as the recurrent genital herpes, papilloma, influenza, tick-borne encephalitis, and rabies. The animal analog of Panavir® (Forvet®) was successfully used against the coronaviral peritonitis. Besides that, Panavir® promotes the secretion of the IFNα and IFNγ by the peripheral blood leukocytes. The anti-inflammatory effect of Panavir® was shown in mice and rats. Here we report the results on the antibacterial activity of the Panavir® (including anti-pneumonia activity).