Nanoparticles have important biological and biomedical applications ranging from drug and gene delivery to biosensing. In the presence of extracellular proteins, a “corona” of proteins adsorbs on the surface of the nanoparticles, altering their interaction with cells, including immune cells. Nanoparticles are often functionalized with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to reduce this non-specific adsorption of proteins. To understand the change in protein corona that occurs following PEGylation, we first quantified the adsorption of blood serum proteins on bare and PEGylated gold nanoparticles using gel electrophoresis. We find a threefold decrease in the amount of protein adsorbed on PEGylated gold nanoparticles compared to the bare gold nanoparticles, showing that PEG reduces, but does not prevent, corona formation. To determine if the secondary structure of corona proteins was altered upon adsorption onto the bare and PEGylated gold nanoparticles, we use CD spectroscopy to characterize the secondary structure of bovine serum albumin following incubation with the nanoparticles. Our results show no significant change in protein secondary structure following incubation with bare or PEGylated nanoparticles. Further examination of the secondary structure of bovine serum albumin, α2-macroglobulin, and transferrin in the presence of free PEG showed similar results. These findings provide important insights for the use of PEGylated gold nanoparticles under physiological conditions.

Date Published: 9 September 2014
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 9165, Physical Chemistry of Interfaces and Nanomaterials XIII, 91651F (9 September 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2062767

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9165:
Physical Chemistry of Interfaces and Nanomaterials XIII
Natalie Banerji; Sophia C. Hayes; Carlos Silva, Editor(s)