Protein adsorption and cellular uptake of cerium oxide nanoparticles as a function of zeta potential

Abstract

The surface chemistry of biomaterials can have a significant impact on their performance in biological applications. Our recent work suggests that cerium oxide nanoparticles are potent antioxidants in cell culture models and we have evaluated several therapeutic applications of these nanoparticles in different biological systems. Knowledge of protein adsorption and cellular uptake will be very useful in improving the beneficial effects of cerium oxide nanoparticles in biology. In the present study, we determined the effect of zeta potential of cerium oxide nanoparticles on adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and cellular uptake in adenocarcinoma lung cells (A549). The zeta potential of the nanoparticles was varied by dispersing them in various acidic and basic pH solutions. UV-visible spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) were used for the protein adsorption and cellular uptake studies, respectively. Nanoceria samples having positive zeta potential were found to adsorb more BSA while the samples with negative zeta potential showed little or no protein adsorption. The cellular uptake studies showed preferential uptake for the negatively charged nanoparticles. These results demonstrate that electrostatic interactions can play an important factor in protein adsorption and cellular uptake of nanoparticles.

Attaching DNA to Nanoceria: Regulating Oxidase Activity and Fluorescence Quenching

“…21,22 Nanoceria has been reported to adsorb proteins based on electrostatic interactions. 23 In recent years, DNA has become a central molecule in bionanotechnology. Interestingly, nanoceria also has strong fluorescence quenching ability, providing further potential in biosensor development.…”

Heparinized nanohydroxyapatite/collagen granules for controlled release of vancomycin

“…Collagen is positively charged during vancomycin adsorption (acidic pH), 33 being unlikely that these two molecules interact strongly as they both have the same charge. 34 Therefore, the similar releasing profile between these two types of granule surfaces probably is dependent on HA and the presence of nanoporosity, as vancomycin molecules can be more entrapped on the structure and consequently released slowlier. 35 The difference observed for heparinized nanoHA/collagen granules may be because heparin contains negatively charged groups (carboxylic and sulfur) and shows a tendency for protein binding.…”

The Potential of Genetically Engineered Magnetic Particles in Biomedical Applications

“…To increase cell separation efficiency, a novel functional polypeptide, which functions to minimize nonspecific adsorption of magnetic particles to cells, was developed for surface modification of BacMPs (Takahashi et al, 2010). Previous reports had shown that the hydrophilicity or neutral charge of the particle surface was important for the reduction of nonspecific interactions between the nanoparticle and the cell surface (Fang et al, 2009;Patil et al, 2007). The designed polypeptide was composed of multiple units consisting of four asparagines (N) and one serine (S) residue and was referred to as the NS polypeptide.…”

“…Enzymes can catalyze various biochemical reactions with high efficiency and specificity and are therefore used in industrial production (Patil et al, 2007). However, the production and purification of recombinant enzymes can be quite time and cost consuming.…”