Jeong Ahn Young, Gopal Vikram, Te Velthuis Aartjan J W
Lewis Thomas Laboratory, Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
Ascend Performance Materials, 1010 Travis Street, Suite 900, Houston, TX 77002, USA.
Biomedicines. 2025 Jul 29;13(8):1843. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines13081843.
Influenza A viruses (IAV) cause seasonal flu and occasional pandemics. In addition, the potential for the emergence of new strains presents unknown challenges for public health. Face masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) can act as barriers that prevent the spread of these viruses. Metal ions embedded into PPE have been demonstrated to inactivate respiratory viruses, but the underlying mechanism of inactivation and potential for resistance is presently not well understood. In this study, we used hemagglutination assays to quantify the effect of zinc ions on IAV sialic acid receptor binding. We varied the zinc concentration, incubation time, incubation temperature, and passaged IAV in the presence of zinc ions to investigate if resistance to zinc ions could evolve. We found that zinc ions impact the ability of IAV particles to hemagglutinate and observed inhibition within 1 min of exposure. Maximum inhibition was achieved within 1 h and sustained for at least 24 h in a concentration-dependent manner. Inhibition was also temperature-dependent, and optimal above room temperature. Serial passaging of IAV in the presence of zinc ions did not result in resistance. e conclude that zinc ions prevent IAV hemagglutination in a concentration and temperature-dependent manner for at least 24 h. Overall, these findings are in line with previous observations indicating that zinc-embedded materials can inactivate the IAV hemagglutinin and SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins, and they support work toward developing robust, passive, self-cleaning antiviral barriers in PPE.
甲型流感病毒（IAV）引发季节性流感并偶尔导致大流行。此外，新毒株出现的可能性给公共卫生带来了未知挑战。口罩和其他个人防护装备（PPE）可作为防止这些病毒传播的屏障。已证明嵌入个人防护装备中的金属离子可使呼吸道病毒失活，但目前对失活的潜在机制和耐药性尚不十分清楚。在本研究中，我们使用血凝试验来量化锌离子对IAV唾液酸受体结合的影响。我们改变锌浓度、孵育时间、孵育温度，并在锌离子存在的情况下传代IAV，以研究是否会产生对锌离子的耐药性。我们发现锌离子会影响IAV颗粒的血凝能力，且在暴露1分钟内即可观察到抑制作用。最大抑制作用在1小时内达到，并以浓度依赖的方式持续至少24小时。抑制作用也与温度有关，在室温以上最为有效。在锌离子存在的情况下对IAV进行连续传代未产生耐药性。我们得出结论，锌离子以浓度和温度依赖的方式至少在24小时内阻止IAV血凝。总体而言，这些发现与先前的观察结果一致，即含锌材料可使IAV血凝素和SARS-CoV-2刺突蛋白失活，并且支持了在个人防护装备中开发强大、被动、自清洁抗病毒屏障的工作。
