Levy-Ontman Oshrat, Abu-Galiyun Eiman, Huleihel Mahmoud
Department of Chemical and Green Engineering, Shamoon College of Engineering, Beer-Sheva 8410802, Israel.
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Sep 17;24(18):14200. doi: 10.3390/ijms241814200.
ἰ-carrageenan is a linear macroalgal polysaccharide that is well known for its antiviral bioactivity. Although it is considered a candidate for antiviral therapeutics, its application is highly limited due to its low solubility and high viscosity, which lower its adsorption efficiency. With the aim of deriving an active ἰ-carrageenan fragment with an improved adsorption capacity, we studied the effects of ultrasonication on structural changes in ἰ-carrageenan with respect to changes in its bioactivity against herpesviruses. An FTIR analysis revealed that ultrasonication increased the hydrophilicity of ἰ-carrageenan without changing its functional groups, and a rheological analysis demonstrated that it gradually decreased the strength of the polysaccharide gel, which completely lost its gel structure and formed small nanoparticles after 30 min of ultrasonication. Concomitantly with these physicochemical changes, a plaque assay revealed that longer ultrasonication increased the antiviral activity of ἰ-carrageenan against two herpesviruses, namely, HSV-1 and VZV. Finally, we separated the 30-min ultrasonicated ἰ-carrageenan into four fractions and found that fractions with a lower molecular weight were significantly less active against both herpesviruses than those with a higher molecular weight. Our findings show that ultrasonication induces physicochemical changes in ἰ-carrageenan that increase its antiviral bioactivity.
ι-卡拉胶是一种线性大型海藻多糖，以其抗病毒生物活性而闻名。尽管它被认为是抗病毒治疗的候选药物，但其应用受到高度限制，因为其低溶解度和高粘度会降低其吸附效率。为了获得具有提高吸附能力的活性ι-卡拉胶片段，我们研究了超声处理对ι-卡拉胶结构变化的影响，以及其对疱疹病毒生物活性的变化。傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）分析表明，超声处理增加了ι-卡拉胶的亲水性，而不改变其官能团，流变学分析表明，它逐渐降低了多糖凝胶的强度，超声处理30分钟后，多糖凝胶完全失去其凝胶结构并形成小纳米颗粒。伴随着这些物理化学变化，噬斑测定显示，更长时间的超声处理增加了ι-卡拉胶对两种疱疹病毒，即单纯疱疹病毒1型（HSV-1）和水痘带状疱疹病毒（VZV）的抗病毒活性。最后，我们将超声处理30分钟的ι-卡拉胶分离成四个组分，发现分子量较低的组分对两种疱疹病毒的活性明显低于分子量较高的组分。我们的研究结果表明，超声处理会引起ι-卡拉胶的物理化学变化，从而增加其抗病毒生物活性。
