Hardening Protein In The Metal （Au,Ag） And Oxide （Fe₃O₄,CoO,and CeO₂） Nanoparticles Corona

Study of the molecular characteristics of inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) is anexpanding fi eld of research that focuses on the use of different NP conjugates fordiagnosis and therapy in medicine. NPs dispersed in biological fl uids are sensitive tosuch an environment and suffer modifi cations. The surface modifi cations of metaland metal oxide nanoparticles with sizes ranging from7to20nm dispersed incommonly used cell culture medium supplemented with serum are investigated. Allthe tested nanoparticles adsorb proteins onto their surface, thereby forming a proteincorona through a dynamic process evolving towards an irreversible coating (hardprotein corona). Despite the fact that the studied nanomaterials have similarcharacteristics of hydrophobicity and surface charge, different temporal patterns ofthe protein corona formation are observed that can be considered a fi ngerprint fornanoparticle identifi cation. Some of the biological and toxicological implications ofthe formation of the nanoparticle–protein corona are studied using the humanmonocytic cell line THP-1exposed to cobalt oxide nanoparticles. Results show thatproduction of reactive oxygen species is decreased if the nanoparticles arepreincubated for48h with serum.