title: Exploring the diameter and surface dependent conformational changes in carbon nanotube-protein corona and the related cytotoxicity.
abstract: In this work, we investigated and compared carbon nanotubes (CNTs) of different diameters regarding their interaction with bovine serum albumin (BSA) and their ability to alter protein structure. BSA was exposed to CNT solutions, and the effects were assessed by utilizing fluorescence spectroscopy, UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), bichinchoninic acid (BCA) and zeta-potential measurement assays. We demonstrate that CNT diameter and surface area play key roles in influencing the stability of adsorbed proteins. Results showed that the secondary and tertiary structural stability of BSA decreased upon adsorption onto CNTs, with greater decrease on smaller-diametered nanotubes. Besides, more protein was loaded onto CNTs with small diameter, reducing the cytotoxicity. This study, therefore, provides fundamental information for the influence of CNT diameter and surface on protein behavior, which may be helpful to understand toxic effects of CNTs and prove beneficial for developing novel biomedical devices and safe use of nanomaterials.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, PR China.
authors: Xingchen
authors: X
authors: Zhao
authors: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, PR China.
authors: Dawei
authors: D
authors: Lu
authors: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, PR China.
authors: Fang
authors: F
authors: Hao
authors: Shandong Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, China-America CRC for Environment & Health, Jinan 250100, PR China. Electronic address: rutaoliu@sdu.edu.cn.
authors: Rutao
authors: R
authors: Liu
mesh_terms: D002942:Circular Dichroism; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000633:toxicity*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000379:methods; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon
keywords: Carbon nanotubes; Diameter; Nanotoxicology; Serum albumin