An Evidence for a Novel Antiviral Mechanism: Modulating Effects of Arg-Glc Maillard Reaction Products on the Phase Transition of Multilamellar Vesicles

Maillard reaction products (MRPs) of protein, amino acids, and reducing sugars from many foods and aqueous extracts of herbs are found to have various bioactivities, including antiviral effects. A hypothesis was proposed that their antiviral activity is due to the interaction with the cellular membrane. Aiming to estimate the possible actions of MRPs on phospholipid bilayers, the Arg-Glc MRPs were prepared by boiling the pre-mixed solution of arginine and glucose for 60 min at 100°C and then examined at a series of concentrations for their effects on the phase transition of MeDOPE multilamellar vesicles (MLVs), for the first time, by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and temperature-resolved small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). Arg-Glc MRPs inhibited the lamellar gel–liquid crystal (Lβ-Lα), lamellar liquid crystal–cubic (Lα-QII), and lamellar liquid crystal–inverted hexagonal (Lα-HII) phase transitions at low concentration (molar ratio of lipid vs. MRPs was 100:1 or 100:2), but promoted all three transitions at medium concentration (100:5). At high concentration (10:1), the MRPs exhibited inhibitory effect again. The fusion peptide from simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) induces membrane fusion by promoting the formation of a non-lamellar phase, e.g., cubic (QII) phase, and inhibiting the transition to HII. Arg-Glc MRPs, at low concentration, stabilized the lamellar structure of SIV peptide containing lipid bilayers, but facilitated the formation of non-lamellar phases at medium concentration (100:5). The concentration-dependent activity of MRPs upon lipid phase transition indiciates a potential role in modulating some membrane-related biological events, e.g., viral membrane fusion.