Medical applications peptides

This chapter is divided into two sections. Section 6.1 is concerned with applications of Raman spectroscopy to biochemistry. Related topics to this section are found in Section 3.3.3 of Chapter 3 (SER spectra of dipeptides) and Section 4.1.2 of Chapter 4 (Raman (RR) spectra of peptides, proteins, porphyrins, enzymes and nucleic acids), Section 6.2 describes medical applications of Raman spectroscopy as analytical and diagnostic tools. In contrast to biochemical samples discussed in the former section, medical samples in the latter section contain a number of components such as proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates and lipids, etc. Thus, Raman spectra of medical samples are much more complex and must be interpreted with caution. 

Shunmugaperumal Tamilvanan, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium, Progress in Design of Biodegradable Polymer-Based Microspheres for Parenteral Controlled Delivery of Therapeutic Peptide/Protein Oil-in-Water Nanosized Emulsions Medical Applications... 

In some oases, duplex emulsions are important. These are emulsions in emulsions. One can have water droplets in an oil phase, of which larger droplets have been made in a second aqueous phase this is called a water-in-oil-in-water duplex emulsion (W/O/W). Of course, one can also have the reverse (O/W/O emulsion). W/O/W are used in some medical applications (encapsulation of drugs), and in foods, to enhance the perception of fat, for example, but also to mask taste, for example, the taste of bitter peptides. One can also imagine that an O/W emulsion in which the oil phase is for the most part replaced by water droplets inside the oil phase, would combine some of the properties of a concentrated O/W emulsion with a much lower actual oil content of the product, with obvious advantages in terms of health. 

This volume of Advances in Polymer Science is an attempt to provide an overview of the state of the art in the area of peptide hybrid polymers. The five articles in this volume cover a broad range of topics, from chemical and biological synthesis, to solution and solid-state self-assembly, to medical applications. 

The development of synthetic host compounds for the selective complexation of natural peptides is of considerable interest for possible medical applications as well as for biotechnology, where they could be used for the separation of oligopeptides from natural or industrial sources. In addition, the study of such supramolecular complexes can help to shed light on biologically important binding mechanisms... 

The interaction of artificial metal ions/complexes with peptides/proteins [11], nucleic acids/DNA [12,13], enzymes [14], steroids [15] and carbohydrates [16] forms a bridge between natural and artificial macromolecular metal complexes. Biometal-organie chemistry concentrates on such complexes [17]. The reason for the increasing interest in this field lies in medical applications of metal complexes (cancer, photodynamic therapy of cancer, immunoassays, fluorescence markers, enantioselective catalysis, template orientated synthesis of peptides, etc.). Figure 2-4 presents an overview of metals in medicine [18]. Some examples are given below. 

Gowda DC, Parker TM, Harris RD, Urry DW (1994) Synthesis, characterization and medical applications of bioelastic materials. In Basava C, Anantharamaiah GM (eds) Peptides design, synthesis and biological activity. Birkhauser, Boston, p 81 Martino M, Perri T, Tamburro AM (2002) Macromol Biosci 2 319 Urry DW (1993) Angew Chem Int Edit Engl 32 819... 

The wealth of natural examples provides immense inspiration for the molecular design of novel peptide-based materials that can be potentially applied as devices, sensors, and biomaterials for medical applications. In addition to hierarchical self-assembly, nature uses other mechanisms, for example, enzyme-mediated covalent cross-linking, to build up structural proteins and higher-ordered structures. In the following sections we will focus on manmade peptide-based materials that belong to the three classes listed below. They will be split with respect to the underlying design concept into materials formed by ... 

Finally, for medical applications, the extraordinary biocompatibility of these elastic protein-based materials, we believe, arises from the specific means whereby these elastic protein-based polymers exhibit their motion. Being composed of repeating peptide sequences that order into regular, nonrandom, dynamic structures, these elastic protein-based polymers exhibit mechanical resonances that present barriers to the approach of antibodies as required to be identified as foreign. In addition, we also believe that these mechanical resonances result in extraordinary absorption properties in the acoustic frequency range. 

The ftunUy of protein-based polymers emphasized here look back to the parent repeating elastic peptide sequence (GVGVP) , which was found in the mammalian elastic fiber, a soft tissue. Because of this, it is perhaps most appropriate to begin consideration of medical applications with the subject of soft tissue restoration. The word restoration describes a treatment not to replace, as is often implied in terms of tissue engineering and tissue reconstruction, but rather to set the stage for the regeneration of a more nearly natural state. 

D.C. Gowda, T.M. Parker, R.D. Harris, and D.W. Urry, Synthesis, Characterizations and Medical Applications of Bioelastic Materials. In Peptides Design, Synthesis, and Biological Activity, C. Basava and G.M. Anantharamaiah, Eds., Birkhauser Press, Boston, 1994, pp. 81-111. 

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