Real-timein situanalysis of biocorona formation and evolution on silica nanoparticles in defined and complex biological environments

Abstract

Biomolecules such as proteins immediately adsorb on the surface of nanoparticles upon their exposure to a biological environment. The formed adlayer is commonly referred to as biomolecule corona (biocorona) and defines the biological activity and toxicity of the nanoparticle. Therefore, it is essential to understand in detail the biocorona formation process, and how it is governed by parameters like composition of the biological environment, and nanoparticle size, shape and faceting. Here we present a detailed equilibrium and real time in situ study of biocorona formation at SiO-nanoparticle surfaces upon exposure to defined (BSA, IgG) and complex (bovine serum, IgG depleted bovine serum) biological samples. We use both nanofabricated surface-associated Au core-SiO shell nanoparticles (faceted, d = 92-167 nm) with integrated nanoplasmonic sensing function and dispersed SiO nanoparticles (using DLS and SDS-PAGE). The results show that preadsorbed BSA or IgG are exchanged for other proteins when exposed to bovine serum. In addition, the results show that IgG forms a biocorona with different properties at curved (edge) and flat (facet) SiO-nanoparticle surfaces. Our study paves the way for further real time in situ investigations of the biocorona formation and evolution kinetics, as well as the role of molecular orientation in biocorona formation, on nanoparticles with surface faceting.

Quantitative Comparison of Protein Adsorption and Conformational Changes on Dielectric-Coated Nanoplasmonic Sensing Arrays

“…In particular, there were similar adsorption rates in the initial and equilibration stages, while one distinct difference was a significantly higher final peak shift for the titania case. The final peak shifts were around 0.9 nm and 1.4 nm for HSA adsorption onto silica and titania, respectively, and the range of these values agrees well with literature values for BSA adsorption [ 37 , 38 , 43 ], validating our measurement approach. The LSPR signals can be normalized by the bulk refractive index sensitivities to directly compare the measurement responses across different substrates [ 11 ].…”

“…In one prominent example, Langhammer and co-workers employed the INPS strategy to characterize protein adsorption onto silica-coated gold nanodisks within the context of studying protein corona formation [ 37 , 38 ]. In addition to coating the nanoplasmonic transducer with a conformal dielectric layer, other materials can also be deposited on the sensor surface to study protein adsorption.…”

Protein corona: implications for nanoparticle interactions with pulmonary cells

“…Then, CeO 2 , Si-CeO 2 , BaSO 4 and ZnO (200 μL of 1 mg/mL) were incubated in 3 mL BALf for 30 min at 37 °C. We chose 30-min incubation since corona formation in the lungs occurs soon after the particles interact with the alveolar lining, and because those early events are relevant to their fate in the lungs [ 42 , 43 ].…”

Three Decades of Research about the Corona Around Nanoparticles: Lessons Learned and Where to Go Now

“…This technique has been used to follow in real-time the formation of the protein corona. [46,47] Today, it is possible to obtain simultaneous measurements from many single nanoparticles, together with structural information of each particle. [48] Following the protein corona formation and dynamics on hundreds of single nanoparticles will allow detailed information about the importance of not only the size and materials but also the morphology.…”