Formation mechanism for stable system of nanoparticle/protein corona and phospholipid membrane

Abstract

In the physiological environment, nanoparticles (NPs) interact with proteins to form a protein-rich layer on the surface which is called "protein corona". Understanding and analyzing the formation process of protein corona and protein corona-nanoparticles is of great significance for biological related nano research. Many separation techniques have been used to analyze the composition of protein corona, but in situ analysis of protein corona is still absent. With the development of detection technology, sum frequency generation (SFG) is an effective instrument to analyze the surface protein structure and dynamic changes of protein corona in situ. In this work the molecular mechanism and surface structure effect of the interaction between nanoparticles with surface protein corona (S-NPP) and phospholipid membrane were studied. When S-NPP interacts with phospholipid membrane, the bond affinity network formed by the binding water can stabilize S-NPP around the lipid bilayer. In this process, S-NPP can be found wrapped in the hydration shell. This ultimately leads to a more moderate interaction between particles and phospholipid membrane.