Anti-herpesvirus activities of Pseudomonas sp. S-17 rhamnolipid and its complex with alginate.

The rhamnolipid biosurfactant PS-17 and its complex with the polysaccharide alginate, both produced by the Pseudomonas sp. S-17 strain, were studied for their antiviral activity against herpes simplex virus (HSV) types 1 and 2. They significantly inhibited the herpesvirus cytopathic effect (CPE) in the Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cell line. The investigations were carried out according to the CPE inhibition assay protocol. The suppressive effect of the compounds on HSV replication was dose-dependent and occurred at concentrations lower than the critical micelle concentration of the surfactant. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of rhamnolipid PS-17 was 14.5 microg/ml against HSV-1 and 13 microg/ml against HSV-2. The IC50 values of the complex were 435 microg/ml for HSV-1 and 482 microg/ml for HSV-2. The inhibitory effects of the substances were confirmed by measuring the infectious virus yields with the multicycle virus growth experimental design as well: deltalog CCID50 of 1.84-2.0 against the two types of herpes simplex viruses by rhamnolipid PS-17 (20 microg/ml), and a strong reduction of the HSV-2 virus yield under the effect of the alginate complex at a concentration of 450 microg/ml. The results indicate that rhamnolipid PS-17 and its alginate complex may be considered as promising substances for the development of anti-herpetic compounds.

Reconformation of polyvinylamine adsorbed on glass fibers.

Surface area exclusion chromatography was used to investigate the reconformation of fully hydrolyzed polyvinylamine. The polymer is adsorbed on stacked glass fiber filters constituting the stationary phase while the polymer solution is injected at the inlet of the chromatography column. From numerical simulation and experimental chromatograms of nonreconforming polyelectrolytes, the amount of polymer adsorbed per filter represented as a function of the filter position along the column (the histogram) was determined to be continuously decreasing and not to depend on the rate of elution. For polyvinylamine, the histograms are peaked and the height of the peak was determined to depend greatly on the rate of polymer supply to the column that was controlled by monitoring the polymer concentration and/or the rate of elution (mass-transfer-controlled adsorption). Modifications in the adsorption on the successive filters were converted into changes in the interfacial area of adsorbed molecules taking into account model histograms as well as experimental adsorption histograms of non reconforming systems. Macromolecule concentration in the mobile phase and contact time between solute and adsorbed molecules were determined to be the two parameters controlling the extent of polymer desorption. The unusual shape of the histogram thus was attributed to reconformation of the adsorbed polymer, which was stimulated by interfacial exchange between segments belonging to trains of adsorbed macromolecules and chain segments of solute ones.

Kinetics of adsorption of polyvinylamine on cellulose fibers. II. Adsorption from electrolyte solutions.

Adsorption from electrolyte solutions of fully hydrolyzed polyvinylamine on cellulose fibers was investigated by supplying the polymer to the fibers at controlled rate. This was implemented by employing a reactor only open to the fluid in which the fiber dispersion were confined and homogenized. The adsorbed layers may be defined as diffuse or dense layers. Diffuse layers are characterized by a surface coverage limited to 0.65 mg/g cellulose in salt-free solutions. Addition of NaCl or CaCl(2) to the fiber dispersion and the polymer solution promotes the adsorption rate and increases the amount of adsorption to 1.5 mg/g cellulose. For dense polymer layers, for which the coverage amounts to values close to 10 mg/g cellulose in salt-free systems, addition of electrolyte does not change the kinetic and adsorption characteristics. Insofar as the variation of the molecular areas of the polymer within the diffuse layers as a function of the ionic strength parallels the variation of the molecular characteristics of solute molecules, the formation of diffuse layers is expected to proceed by random deposition of solute molecules which later individually sustain strong reconformation. Adsorption isotherms show a limited influence of the ionic strength. Obviously, the passage from dense layers of high surface coverage to low adsorption values at equilibrium requires extended reconformation of adsorbed macromolecules and desorption of a great part of the molecules already adsorbed.

Kinetics of adsorption of polyvinylamine on cellulose fibers. I. Adsorption from salt-free solutions.

Adsorption of fully hydrolyzed polyvinylamine on cellulose fibers in the short term was investigated by supplying the polymer to the fibers, first instantaneously by pouring the polymer solution into a jar containing the fiber dispersion (jar experiments) and second, at controlled rates (the reactor experiments). In the latter case, the rate of supply of polymer to the fiber dispersion confined in the reactor was monitored by setting the concentration of the solution being injected at a controlled rate. The concentration of the polymer solution exerts a paramount influence on the kinetics of adsorption and on the amount of polymer adsorbed at (or near) fiber surface saturation, while the rate of polymer supply only plays a minor role. The main observation is the emergence of two types of polymer layers corresponding to diffuse and dense layers. The former were characterized by adsorption layers of density smaller than 0.65 mg/g cellulose that are composed of adsorbed polymers having sustained extended flattening in the adsorbed state. The latter reach densities as high as 10 mg/g cellulose when the fiber surface is fully coated, thus indicating that reconformation is limited or even impeded at short terms. The threshold adsorption corresponds more or less to equilibrated layers, since the final coverage determined at adsorption equilibrium did not exceed 0.6 to 0.7 mg/g cellulose.