title: Dissociation coefficients of protein adsorption to nanoparticles as quantitative metrics for description of the protein corona: A comparison of experimental techniques and methodological relevance.
abstract: Protein adsorption to nanoparticles is described as a chemical reaction in which proteins attach to binding sites on the nanoparticle surface. This process is defined by a dissociation coefficient, which tells how many proteins are adsorbed per nanoparticle in dependence of the protein concentration. Different techniques to experimentally determine dissociation coefficients of protein adsorption to nanoparticles are reviewed. Results of more than 130 experiments in which dissociation coefficients have been determined are compared. Data show that different methods, nanoparticle systems, and proteins can lead to significantly different dissociation coefficients. However, we observed a clear tendency of smaller dissociation coefficients upon less negative towards more positive zeta potentials of the nanoparticles. The zeta potential thus is a key parameter influencing protein adsorption to the surface of nanoparticles. Our analysis highlights the importance of the characterization of the parameters governing protein-nanoparticle interaction for quantitative evaluation and objective literature comparison.
authors.affiliation: Fachbereich Physik, Philipps Universität Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Jonas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hühn
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Science, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fedeli
authors.affiliation: Fachbereich Physik, Philipps Universität Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Fachbereich Physik, Philipps Universität Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Atif
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Masood
authors.affiliation: CIC biomaGUNE, San Sebastian, Spain.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Del Pino
authors.affiliation: Smart Hybrid Materials (Shms) Laboratory, Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Niveen M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Khashab
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Science, University of Padova, Padova, Italy. Electronic address: emanuele.papini@unipd.it.
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Papini
authors.affiliation: Fachbereich Physik, Philipps Universität Marburg, Marburg, Germany; CIC biomaGUNE, San Sebastian, Spain. Electronic address: wolfgang.parak@physik.uni-marburg.de.
authors.forename: Wolfgang J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Parak
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D000818:Animals; D002623:Chemistry Techniques, Analytical / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D000066970:Protein Corona / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000066970:Protein Corona
keywords: Dissociation constant; Hill model; Nanoparticles; Protein corona