We investigate whether a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) of influenza A H5N1 could be used to help identify molecules capable of binding to, and inhibiting the function of the virus, via either competitive or allosteric mechanisms.
The adsorption isotherms and aggregate structures of adsorbed surfactants on smooth thin-film surfaces of mineral oxides have been studied by optical reflectometry and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Films of the mineral oxides of titania, alumina, hafnia, and zirconia were produced by atomic layer deposition (ALD) with low roughness. We find that the surface strongly influences the admicelle organization on the surface. At high concentrations (2 × cmc) of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), the surfactant aggregates on a titania surface exhibit a flattened admicelle structure with an average repeat distance of 8.0 ± 1.0 nm whereas aggregates on alumina substrates exhibit a larger admicelle with an average separation distance of 10.5 ± 1.0 nm. A wormlike admicelle structure with an average separation distance of 7.0 ± 1.0 nm can be observed on zirconia substrates whereas a bilayered aggregate structure on hafnia substrates was observed. The change in the surface aggregate structure can be related to an increase in the critical packing parameter through a reduction in the effective headgroup area of the surfactant. The templating strength of the surfaces are found to be hafnia > alumina > zirconia > titania. Weakly templating surfaces are expected to have superior biocompatibility.
Wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) lectin is a model compound for the interaction between viruses and cells during infection events and thus an interesting analyte for mass-sensitive sensing to study these interaction phenomena. Scanning tunneling microscopy studies reveal that surface molecular imprinting leads to cavities having the dimensions of WGA dimers. These reincorporate WGA from phosphate-buffered saline between 1 and 160 μg/ml. Whereas the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) frequency for molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP)-coated electrodes decreases, indicating uptake of the analyte, their nonimprinted counterparts yield positive, concentration-dependent frequency shifts characteristic for slip of the analyte on the QCM surface. The MIPs achieve selectivity factors towards bovine serum albumin of roughly 4 at higher protein concentrations. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis reveals that binding is favored by 29 kJ/mol until the adsorption of up to ten monolayers on the MIP, whereas above this range the value is lower. Together with the binding behavior of MIP and nonimprinted polymers, this indicates that the MIP acts as a nucleus for multilayer deposition onto the surface.
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