title: Protein corona formation for nanomaterials and proteins of a similar size: hard or soft corona?
abstract: Nanoparticles (NPs) entering a biological fluid undergo surface modification due to dynamic, physicochemical interactions with biological components, especially proteins. In this work we used complementary bio-physico-chemical approaches to characterize the effects of interactions between CeO(2) NPs, immunoglobulins (IgGs) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) of a similar size on protein structural evolution as well as formation of (hetero-) aggregates. Using circular dichroism we showed that IgGs and BSA underwent significant structural changes after interaction with NPs. The NPs and protein-NPs were observed after size exclusion chromatography, highlighting the fact that few aggregates were stable enough to pass this mild separation step. X-ray absorption spectroscopy suggested that the surface chemistry of NPs was not affected by these proteins, also implying weak interactions. Competitive experiments revealed that, while the serum was more concentrated for BSA, IgG-NP aggregates were more stable. Altogether, our results indicate that, under our experimental conditions, the formation of a "protein corona" is an unstable and reversible mechanism. This indicates that, when NPs and proteins are similar in size, the adsorption concept (i.e. protein corona concept) cannot be applied to model the NP-protein interaction, and a heteroaggregation model is more appropriate.
authors: CEREGE (UMR 7330 CNRS/Aix Marseille université), Europôle Méditerranéen de L'Arbois, BP 80, 13545 Aix en Provence, France.
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Liu
authors: Jérôme
authors: J
authors: Rose
authors: Sophie
authors: S
authors: Plantevin
authors: Mélanie
authors: M
authors: Auffan
authors: Jean-Yves
authors: JY
authors: Bottero
authors: Claude
authors: C
authors: Vidaud
mesh_terms: D001665:Binding Sites; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D011485:Protein Binding; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D011506:Proteins