A Simple Egg Membrane Model for Understanding Diffusion Characteristics of Nanoparticles and Amino Acids

Abstract

This study reports passive diffusion (in vitro) of silver nanoparticles with combination of aromatic amino acids tryptophan, phenylalanine, tyrosine across a biological membrane model. The experiments were carried out under physiological environment at pH 7.4. The chicken egg shell outer membrane model was used to study the passive diffusion of the above materials. The passive diffusion was performed against and towards gravitation for 24 and 48hrs. Fick’s first law of diffusion was adopted for quantification of diffusion coefficient, permeability constant and diffusion rate. The egg shell membrane was characterised using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The silver nanoparticles were synthesized by chemical degradation route and characterised by UV visible spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering. An average size of nanoparticles obtained was 62nm. The diffusion rate of amino acids was higher than silver nanoparticles; however it was enhanced in presence of silver nanoparticles. Permeability coefficient and diffusion coefficient were higher in amino acids than silver nanoparticles. The possible mechanisms have been explained on the basis of molecular properties.