Poly (oxonorbornenes) (PONs) are amphiphilic ligands which are known to possess antimicrobial properties that involves membrane penetration. These properties result from the two characteristic side chains of PONs: a hydrophobic alkyl and a charged amine. In this study, we elucidated the impact of the molecular structure of PONs on their activity and the activity of PONs-gold nanoparticles conjugates (PONs-AuNPs) on the model vertebrate organism, D. rerio. Specifically, we determined how changing the amine/alkyl ratio and the molecular weight of PONs affect the activity of PONs and PONs-AuNPs on this model organism. D. rerio. embryos were exposed for 96 hours to increasing concentrations of PONs of varying amine/alkyl ratios and molecular weights. The embryos were counted every 12 hours to determine their viability. Initial results indicate that the viability of D. rerio. embryos decreases with decreasing amine/alkyl ratio, or increasing hydrophobic character. Additionally, increasing the molecular weight of PONs increases their adverse impact on D. rerio. embryos for PONs of all amine/alkyl ratio. This suggests a stronger interaction due to increased amine charge density when large PONs associate with the D. rerio. embryos. Currently, we are investigating the impact of PONs-AuNPs on D. rerio. embryos to determine whether conjugating PONs to AuNPs further increases their activity as was previously shown for other model membranes and living organisms.

Molecular level studies of the impact of poly (oxonorbornenes) and their gold nanoparticles conjugates on D. rerio. embryos

256th National Meeting (2018)

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