Results and discussion
ATA inhibits EV71 replication
We have previously shown that a number of agents can inhibit
the replication of EV71.15,19 –26 In this study, we found that
EV71 replication can also be inhibited by ATA. In the antiviral
neutralization test, Vero cells seeded in 96-well plates were all
lysed at 64 h after EV71 infection as shown in the VC (virus
control) column in Figure 1(a). Without virus infection, ATA did
not cause apparent cell lysis at concentrations up to 1000 mM
(row 1, Figure 1a). When EV71-infected cells were treated with
ATA at various concentrations, ATA showed effects on the protection
of lysis of Vero cells in a dose-dependent manner (rows 2–4,
Figure 1a, experiments in triplicate). Subsequently, the effect of
ATA was further confirmed using the plaque reduction and viral
yield reduction assays. In the plaque reduction assay, Vero
cells were infected with EV71 (TW/2231/98) at a titre of 50–
100 pfu per well of cells in 6-well plates. After virus adsorption
for 1 h, ATA was added to Vero cells at various concentrations