Surface Energetics Study and Determination of the Combined Negative Hamaker Coefficient for Hepatitis C Virus Infected Human Blood Cells

Abstract

This study investigated the interactive effects of Hepatitis C virus on human cells using the contact angle approach. The methodology involves the use of sessile drop approach to determine the contact angle formed on the infected and uninfected blood cells in the presences of glycerin as the probe liquid. It was observed that the presence of the virus in the human blood cells depleted the immune system of infected cells giving rise to a decreased CD4 count on the average of 514.5 ± 243.10 when compared with the uninfected cells CD4 count of 1267.2 ± 368.27. The measurement of contact angle also unveils that among the blood components separated in the course of the experiment, the white blood cell is the principal target of the virus with the highest average contact angle of 63.4 ± 3.20 while the uninfected white blood cells have a lower contact angle of 48.5 ± 2.75. The result of the measured contact angle was used for MATLAB computation to determine the surface energy, force of adhesion and the Hamaker coefficient. Response surface methodology was also employed in this study to visualize the viral impact on the blood cells as well as generating model equations for prediction of the interaction between the virus and the blood cells. Infected surfaces on the average have higher values of Hamaker coefficient than uninfected surfaces. It was discovered that an increase in the contact angles causes a significant increase in Hamaker coefficient with a corresponding decrease in the CD4 counts on the infected surfaces. This increase is attributed to the presence of the HCV virus in the infected samples and the highest value was observed in the white blood cell component. Computation of the combined negative Hamaker coefficient revealed that there exists a possibility of separating the virus from the human lymphocyte, hence a negative value of the A 132 of the infected sample was seen to be − 0.150 × 10 − 18 mJ/m 2 ( − 0.150 × 10 − 25 J). This is in agreement with the value reported in literature when an alternative method to contact angle was used (ultraviolent spectrophotometer approach) to investigate HIV infected human cells. The combined negative Hamaker coefficient of − 0.281 × 10 − 25 J was obtained in that study. Both results have unveiled the possibility of applying the concept of combined negative Hamaker coefficient as a means of separating the virus from the lymphocytes. It therefore implies that additives in the form of drug(s) to the serum (as an intervening medium) which could alter the surface energy of the serum to a value of ≥ − 0.150 × 10 − 25 J can have the capability of totally isolating the virus from the lymphocytes.