title: Inorganic nanoparticle biomolecular corona: formation, evolution and biological impact.
abstract: Physicochemical changes to inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) in biological environments determine their impact. Blood, lymph, mucus, complete cell culture media and other biological fluids contain a large amount and variety of different molecules. NPs dispersed in these fluids are sensitive to such environments. One of the most significant alterations is the formation of the NP-protein corona (PC) as a result of the adsorption of proteins onto the inorganic surface. This process is currently gaining attention in the field of inorganic NPs since this spontaneous coating gives a biological identity to the composite NP-PC and determines the interactions between the NP and the host in living systems. Therefore, knowledge of NP-PC formation is crucial for understanding the evolution, biodistribution and reactivity of NPs inside organisms and, therefore, for the safe design of engineered NPs.
authors.affiliation: CIN2 (ICN-CSIC), Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology & Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Campus de la UAB, Edifici Q, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Eudald
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Casals
authors.forename: Víctor F
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Puntes
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000032:analysis* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011485:Protein Binding; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D013499:Surface Properties; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins