title: The fate of silica based Stöber particles soaked into growth media (RPMI and M254): A DLS and ζ-potential study.
abstract: Understanding the mechanisms involved in the interaction of biological systems with inorganic materials is of great importance and interest in both fundamental and applied disciplines in several different fields such as astrobiology, ecology, biology, biotechnology, engineering, and medicine. In this context, this paper investigates the interaction of biomacromolecules with submicrometric silica gel particles (NP) obtained through the Stöber method. Surprisingly, particles size reduction is observed after their dispersion into two different reconstituted growth media (RPMI and M254). This effect was related to the nature of the Stöber particles and the mechanism of their formation. The experimental results can be explained arguing that a biomacromolecule corona rapidly forms on NP incubated in both RPMI and M254 growth media. The results suggest that hydrolytic attack at incompletely condensed internal surface valence sites as well as interactions between NPs surface and the components of the growth media reverse the aggregation process, giving smaller disaggregated particles surrounded by a biomacromolecule corona. Moreover it was assessed that, at longer incubation time, the particles slightly grow probably due to interlocking of biomacromolecules in the corona. Furthermore, experimental results confirm that formation of this corona is a competitive and dynamic process. The present paper shows that the described effects (as size changes) are strongly dependent on the nature of the growth medium.
authors: Department of Chemical, Materials and Production Engineering (DICMaPI), University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, Naples 80125, Italy; Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Biomaterials (CRIB), Piazzale Tecchio 80, Naples 80125, Italy. Electronic address: branda@unina.it.
authors: Francesco
authors: F
authors: Branda
authors: Department of Chemical, Materials and Production Engineering (DICMaPI), University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, Naples 80125, Italy.
authors: Brigida
authors: B
authors: Silvestri
authors: Department of Chemical, Materials and Production Engineering (DICMaPI), University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, Naples 80125, Italy; Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Biomaterials (CRIB), Piazzale Tecchio 80, Naples 80125, Italy.
authors: Aniello
authors: A
authors: Costantini
authors: Department of Chemical, Materials and Production Engineering (DICMaPI), University of Naples Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, Naples 80125, Italy; Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Biomaterials (CRIB), Piazzale Tecchio 80, Naples 80125, Italy.
authors: Giuseppina
authors: G
authors: Luciani
mesh_terms: D003470:Culture Media; D010316:Particle Size; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D012822:Silicon Dioxide
keywords: DLS; Growth medium; Stöber nanoparticles; ζ-Potential