In depth characterisation of the biomolecular coronas of polymer coated inorganic nanoparticles with differential centrifugal sedimentation

Perez-Potti, A; Lopez, H; Pelaz, B; Abdelmonem, A; Soliman, MG; Schoen, I; Kelly, PM; Dawson, KA; Parak, WJ; Krpetic, Z; Monopoli, MP

Abstract

Advances in nanofabrication methods have enabled the tailoring of new strategies towards the controlled production of nanoparticles with attractive applications in healthcare. In many cases, their characterisation remains a big challenge, particularly for small-sized functional nanoparticles of 5 nm diameter or smaller, where current particle sizing techniques struggle to provide the required sensitivity and accuracy. There is a clear need for the development of new reliable characterisation approaches for the physico-chemical characterisation of nanoparticles with significant accuracy, particularly for the analysis of the particles in the presence of complex biological fluids. Herein, we show that the Differential Centrifugal Sedimentation can be utilised as a high-precision tool for the reliable characterisation of functional nanoparticles of different materials. We report a method to correlate the sedimentation shift with the polymer and biomolecule adsorption on the nanoparticle surface, validating the developed core–shell model. We also highlight its limit when measuring nanoparticles of smaller size and the need to use several complementary methods when characterising nanoparticle corona complexes.

Citation

Perez-Potti, A., Lopez, H., Pelaz, B., Abdelmonem, A., Soliman, M., Schoen, I., …Monopoli, M. (2021). In depth characterisation of the biomolecular coronas of polymer coated inorganic nanoparticles with differential centrifugal sedimentation. Scientific reports, 11(1), 6443. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-84029-8

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 25, 2021
• Publication Date: Mar 19, 2021
• Deposit Date: Mar 22, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 22, 2021
• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Print ISSN: 2045-2322
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 6443
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-84029-8
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-84029-8
• Related Public URLs: https://www.nature.com/srep
• Additional Information: Funders : European Commission;Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaf (DFG);Kidscan;Irish Research Council; Projects : FP7 NanoSolutions;FP7 Namdiatream;H2020 Biorima;Cluster of Excellence ‘Advanced Imaging of Matter’;FP7 FutureNanoNeeds;Studentship grant award;e Embark scheme; Grant Number: 309329; Grant Number: 246479; Grant Number: 760928; Grant Number: EXC 2056—project ID 390715994; Grant Number: 604602; Grant Number: reg. charity no. 1094946; Grant Number: RS/2011/106