Preparation and Characterization of the Peptide Modified Regenerated Cellulose Membrane for Binding H1N1 Virus

Preparation and characterization of the peptide modified regenerated cellulose membrane for binding H1N1 virus

Peiyong Qin, M. Nazmul Karim*

Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas Technology University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA

     Abstract:  Flu is a contagious respiratory illness, killing an estimated 36,000 people in the United States. Therefore, there is a real need to develop novel purification technologies to speed up the vaccine production and research. Our study is aimed at the preparation of regenerated cellulose membrane modified with peptide as a possible specific ligand to attach to the influenza virus.  The peptide modified regenerated cellulose membrane was prepared by epoxy method. To characterize the membrane, Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) was used to observe the membrane structure, and measure the adhesion force between the nano-gold coated tip and the membrane. For epoxy group grafting, the regenerated cellulose membrane was modified at various pH, epichlorohydrin(EPI) concentration, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) concentration, and reaction temperatures. High pH, EPI concentration, and temperature can enhance the grafting process. However, when higher than critical values of reaction temperature and pH are used, the regenerated cellulose membrane is hydrolyzed. For peptide grafting, the grafting content was about from 0.02 mg/cm² to 0.06 mg/cm² of Met-Enkephalin peptide at various buffers. In spite of the high grafting peptide amount, the peptide activity is destroyed at high reaction pH, which resulted in the decreased A/WSN/33 virus attachment in Fig 1. The AFM adhesion force curve was used to explain the behavior of the peptide modified regenerated cellulose membrane. The peptide modified regenerated cellulose membrane was also analyzed by FTIR.

Fig. 1  Attachment of WSN virus using the regenerated cellulose membrane modified with peptide under different buffer.

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* Corresponding author. Tel: 806-742-3553. E-mail: naz.karim@ttu.edu