Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Oct;68(5):1003-1013.
doi: 10.1002/bab.2020. Epub 2020 Sep 24.

Proteomic exploration of soft and hard biocorona onto PEGylated multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Maria Nicoletti  1 , Cristian Gambarotti  1 , Elisa Fasoli  1
Affiliations

Proteomic exploration of soft and hard biocorona onto PEGylated multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Maria Nicoletti et al. Biotechnol Appl Biochem. 2021 Oct.

Abstract

In nanomedicine, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are considered potential candidates as drug delivery systems. The absorption of proteins onto CNTs, after their administration in physiological environment, forms the protein corona or biocorona, which is able to influence their biological properties and biocompatibility. For this reason, characterization of protein corona is a crucial aspect in the research to control CNTs toxicity and capability to target cells. Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were functionalized with polyethylene glycol (PEG), chosen considering its well-known biocompatibility, and then incubated in human plasma to create the biocorona. Plasma proteins, which bound around PEGylated CNTs, were detached using five different solutions, grouped into native and denaturant buffers, and used to characterize the two components of biocorona. The proteomic fingerprinting of biocorona was performed by SDS-PAGE and 2D-PAGE separation and mass spectrometry analysis. Native eluents were able to capture proteins of soft corona, characterized by complex secondary structures, and formed by both β-sheet and α-helices domains. Denaturant buffers have eluted many proteins with a high percentage of the α-helix structure that could be involved in specific interactions responsible for the formation of hard corona.

Keywords: PEGylated carbon nanotube; biocompatibility; drug delivery; human plasma; mass spectrometry; protein-corona.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Kam, N. W., Liu, Z., and Dai, H. (2005) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 127, 12492-12493.
    1. Prato, M., Kostarelos, K., and Bianco, A. (2008) Acc. Chem. Res. 41, 60-68.
    1. Kostarelos, K., Lacerda, L., Pastorin, G., Wu, W., Wieckowski, S., Luangsivilay, J., Godefroy, S., Pantarotto, D., Briand, J. P., Muller, S., Prato, M., and Bianco, A. (2007) Nat. Nanotechnol. 2, 108-113.
    1. Chen, J. Y., Chen, S. Y., Zhao, X. R., Kuznetsova, L. V., Wong, S. S., and Ojima, I. (2008) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 130, 16778-16785.
    1. Gao, L., Nie, L., Wang, T., Qin, Y., Guo, Z., Yang, D., and Yan, X., (2006) Chembiochem. 7, 239-242.

LinkOut - more resources