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To improve the chromatographic performance of an oseltamivir (OS) molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP), silica gel coated with an MIP layer for OS (OSMIP@silica gel) was prepared by the surface molecular imprinting technology on the supporter of porous silica gel microspheres. A nonimprinted polymer with the silica gel (NIP@silica gel) was also prepared for comparison. The obtained particles were characterized through FT⁻IR, scanning electron microscopy, specific surface area analysis, and porosity measurements. The results indicated that the polymer was successfully synthesized and revealed the structural differences between imprinted and nonimprinted polymers. The results of static adsorption experiments showed that adsorption quantity of the OSMIP@silica gel for OS was higher than that for NIP@silica gel, and the OSMIP@silica gel had two kinds of affinity sites for OS but the NIP@silica gel had one. The chromatographic performance of the OSMIP@silica gel column had significant improvement. The imprinting factor of the OSMIP@silica gel column for OS was 1.64. Furthermore, the OSMIP@silica gel column showed good affinity and selectivity for template OS and another neuraminidase inhibitor, peramivir, but not for quinocetone. These results indicated that the prepared OSMIP could be used to simulate the activity center of neuraminidase, and the OSMIP@silica gel column could be also employed in future studies to search for more active neuraminidase inhibitor analogues from traditional Chinese herbs.

To develop a non-biological method for screening active components against influenza virus from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) extraction, a liquid chromatography (LC) column prepared with oseltamivir molecularly imprinted polymer (OSMIP) was employed with LC-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). From chloroform extracts of compound TCM liquid preparation, we observed an affinitive component m/z 249, which was identified to be matrine following analysis of phytochemical literatures, OSMIP-LC column on-line of control compounds and MS/MS off-line. The results showed that matrine had similar bioactivities with OS against avian influenza virus H9N2 in vitro for both alleviating cytopathic effect and hemagglutination inhibition and that the stereostructures of these two compounds are similar while their two-dimensional structures were different. In addition, our results suggested that the bioactivities of those affinitive compounds were correlated with their chromatographic behaviors, in which less difference of the chromatographic behaviors might have more similar bioactivities. This indicates that matrine is a potential candidate drug to prevent or cure influenza for human or animal. In conclusion, the present study showed that molecularly imprinted polymers can be used as a non-biological method for screening active components against influenza virus from TCM.