Liquorice in Nano-coating?

A recent study done by a team of researchers from Australia and Germany found a novel solution to a common problem in the medical field. The dilemma was that the biological components in medical implants are sensitive and can be damaged by harsh sterilization processes such as exposure to toxic gas or a blast of radiation. This would make the devices useless but sterilization cannot be avoided and is necessary to protect infection in patients when the devices are implanted. The research team discovered that a component in liquorice, glycrrhyzic acid, can be used to create a nano-coating on the surface of the medical device. The coating protects the bio-molecules from getting damaged by sterilization processes. It is unique in that it has no sugars, sugar-alcohol compounds or proteins that would hinder the biological activity of the device, unlike other stabilizing methods. The efficacy of this technique was tested by blasting a test device with radiation to completely sterilize it, resulting in no damage to the nano-coating and proteins and maintaining the function of the device. Now that the problem of medical devices containing biological components has been solved, the nano-coating can be used in the manufacturing of more effective biomedical devices.

So how exactly does the nano-coating protect proteins from radiation? Here is a diagram from the published article of what happens during the nano-coating process. (a) The “Y” shapes are proteins that are on the surface of a device. In (b), they are embedded with the nano-coating and dried. As seen in (c), the proteins are protected from radiation, which are represented by lightning bolt symbols. (d) The nano-coating is removed through rehydration. The gray oval shapes in (e) and (f) are the nano-coating that “stabilizes” the proteins by doing hydrogen bonding with the proteins and by replacing water. The coating ensures that radiation does not denature the proteins in the medical implant.

By: Soohee Lee and Olivia Park 

An illustration of the nano-coating process