Antiviral Activity of Nitrosonium Cations against SARS-CoV-2 on a Syrian Hamster Model

A V Shipovalov; A F Vanin; O V Pyankov; E G Bagryanskaya; V D Mikoyan; N A Tkachev; N A Asanbaeva; V Ya Popkova

doi:10.1134/S0006350922050165

Antiviral Activity of Nitrosonium Cations against SARS-CoV-2 on a Syrian Hamster Model

Biophysics (Oxf). 2022;67(5):785-795. doi: 10.1134/S0006350922050165. Epub 2022 Dec 19.

Authors

A V Shipovalov¹, A F Vanin², O V Pyankov¹, E G Bagryanskaya³, V D Mikoyan², N A Tkachev², N A Asanbaeva³, V Ya Popkova²

Affiliations

¹ State Scientific Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology "Vector", 630559 Koltsovo, Novosibirsk oblast Russia.
² Semenov Federal Research Center of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia.
³ Vorozhtsov Institute of Organic Chemistry, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia.

Abstract

The antiviral action of binuclear dinitrosyl iron complexes with glutathione along with diethyldithiocarbamate against the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been demonstrated on a Syrian hamster model after aerosol exposure of SARS-CoV-2-infected animals to the solutions of said compounds. EPR assays in analogous experiments on intact hamsters have demonstrated that the iron complexes and diethyldithiocarbamate are predominantly localized in lung tissues. These results have been compared with similar measurements on intact mice, which have shown the equal localization of these agents in both the lungs and liver. We assume that the release of the nitrosonium cations from the binuclear dinitrosyl iron complexes with glutathione occurs during their contact with diethyldithiocarbamate in the animal body. These cations caused S-nitrosation of host and viral cell proteases, leading to suppression of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; binuclear iron dinitrosyl complexes with glutathione; nitrosonium cations; sodium diethyldithiocarbamate.

© The Author(s) 2022, ISSN 0006-3509, Biophysics, 2022, Vol. 67, No. 5, pp. 785–795. © The Author(s), 2022. This article is an open access publication.Russian Text © The Author(s), 2022, published in Biofizika, 2022, Vol. 67, No. 5, pp. 981–993.