Journal
POLYMERS
Volume 14, Issue 19, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/polym14194200
Keywords
molecularly imprinted polymers; ligand-free nanogels; bee venom phospholipase A2; synthetic antivenom; bee envenomation
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Funding
- Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization, CNCS-UEFISCDI within PNCDI III [PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2016-1876, PN-III-P1-1.1-TE2021-1239]
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In this study, ligand-free nanogels (LFNGs) were developed as potential antivenom mimics to prevent hypersensitivity and other side effects following massive bee attacks. The LFNGs showed high specificity for phospholipase A2 (PLA2) from bee venom and were able to recognize and retain the targeted enzyme.
In this study, ligand-free nanogels (LFNGs) as potential antivenom mimics were developed with the aim of preventing hypersensitivity and other side effects following massive bee attacks. For this purpose, poly (ethylene glycol) diacrylate was chosen as a main synthetic biocompatible matrix to prepare the experimental LFNGs. The overall concept uses inverse mini-emulsion polymerization as the main route to deliver nanogel caps with complementary cavities for phospholipase A2 (PLA2) from bee venom, created artificially with the use of molecular imprinting (MI) technologies. The morphology and the hydrodynamic features of the nanogels were confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis. The following rebinding experiments evidenced the specificity of molecularly imprinted LFNG for PLA2, with rebinding capacities up to 8-fold higher compared to the reference non-imprinted nanogel, while the in vitro binding assays of PLA2 from commercial bee venom indicated that such synthetic nanogels are able to recognize and retain the targeted PLA2 enzyme. The results were finally collaborated with in vitro cell-viability experiments and resulted in a strong belief that such LFNG may actually be used for future therapies against bee envenomation.
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