Dendrimers biological properties

In a more recent paper, Roy et al. reported on the synthesis and biological pro -perties of mannosylated Starburst dendrimers [46]. In addition to the presence of good biological properties in ligand- and inhibitor-tests, these dendrimers were shown to constitute novel biochromatography materials of high affinity for the rapid and easy isolation and purification of carbohydratebinding proteins from crude mixtures. 

D. Page and R. Roy, Synthesis and biological properties of mannosylated starburst Poly(amidoamine) dendrimers, Bioconjug. Chem., 8 (1997) 714—723. 

A series of mannosylated dendrimers have been prepared and evaluated for their biological properties, in particular as inhibitors of plant lectins.83 Subsequently, mannosylated PAMAM, and a dendrimer based on a 3,5-bis-(2-aminoethoxy)benzoic acid branching unit, have been tested for their ability to inhibit bacterial infection by interfering with the binding of uropathogenic... 

Page D, Roy R. Synthesis and biological properties of manno-sylated starbnrst poly (amidoamine) dendrimers. Bioconj. Chem. 1997 8 714-723. 

Photophysical and Biological Properties of Fluorescent PAMAM Dendrimer... 

Grabchev I, Betcheva R, Yotova L (2007b) Photophysical and biological properties of fluorescent PAMAM dendrimer. Biotechnical fictionalization of renewable polymeric materials, Graz, Austria, 12-14 September 2007... 

The PPDs thus create a perfect nanoenvironment with increasingly complex function. Admittedly, they define enormous tasks for precision polymer synthesis, but if really sophisticated function is targeted it is worthwhile to take on this challenge in view of the wealth of otherwise inaccessible chemical, physical, and biological properties [10, 46]. Further, there is much to learn when comparing multifunctional dendrimers based upon covalent build-up, with assemblies depending upon weak intermolecular forces. This is indeed another benefit of the structural perfection of the PPDs, that they also allow the fabrication of increasingly complex supramolecular structures. 

Dendrimers can be used to effectively coat and passivate fluorescent quantum dots to make biocompatible surfaces for coupling proteins or other biomolecules. In addition, the ability of dendrimers to contain guest molecules within their three-dimensional structure also has led to the creation of dendrimer-metal nanoclusters having fluorescent properties. In both applications, dendrimers are used to envelop metal or semiconductor nanoparticles that possess fluorescent properties useful for biological detection. 

Antibodies are powerful tools in pharmaceutical development, and as den-drimers are incorporated into various drugs and medical devices, antibodies such as described should be useful to study dendrimer biodistribution and pharmacokinetic properties. We have not attempted to detect PAMAM de-ndrimers in biological fluids (blood, urine, sputum, etc.), but expect that it would work. Additionally, the antibodies might be used in immunohistochemistry to study the tissue and cellular distribution of dendrimer therapeutics. 

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