Author(s)

Okwuchukwu Innocent Ani¹, Sam Nna Omenyi², Chinonso Hubert Achebe²

¹Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu, Nigeria.
²Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria.

Hamaker coefficient approach was used as a surface thermodynamic tool in determining the HIV- blood interactions in the antiretroviral drug environment. The methodology involved the absorbance measurement using a digital Ultraviolet Visible MetaSpecAE1405031Pro Spectrophotometer of blood samples collected from ten HIV infected persons who had not commenced treatment with antiretroviral drugs (No ARV), ten HIV infected persons who had already commenced treatment with antiretroviral drugs (with ARV) and ten blood samples of uninfected persons all in each of five different antiretroviral drugs environment. The variables required for the computations with the Lifshiftz formula in the determination of Hamaker constants/coefficients were derived from the absorbance data. The values of the various Hamaker coefficients for each antiretroviral drug on both infected and uninfected blood samples were calculated. MATLAB software tools were employed in the computations. The absolute values for the combined Hamaker coefficient for the drugs ranged from －0.02481 × 10^－21 Joule for drug 4 to －0.05845 × 10^－21 Joule for drug 3. The negative senses of the absolute combined Hamaker coefficient imply net negative van der Waals forces indicating a possible repulsion between HIV and drug coated lymphocyte cells. For the virus interacting with blood samples not coated with the drugs, the Hamaker coefficients are positive indicating the vulnerability of the lymphocytes in the absence of the drugs. This effect suggests effective coating or binding of the lymphocytes with the drugs is needed for possible blocking of the virus from the surface of the lymphocyte cell. A thermodynamic criterion for HIV-drug interaction prediction was suggested and found to be a valuable tool in HIV-blood interaction study. The use of the findings of this work by pharmaceutical industries may be possible in the area of drug design.

Absorbance, Hamaker Constant, Hamaker Coefficient, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Antiretroviral Drug, Lymphocyte, Van der Waals Forces, Surface Energy

Ani, O. , Omenyi, S. and Achebe, C. (2015) Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)- Blood Interactions in Antiretroviral Drugs Environment—Surface Thermodynamics Approach. Journal of Biosciences and Medicines, 3, 1-15. doi: 10.4236/jbm.2015.311001.