University of Bucharest, Faculty of Biology, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 91-95 Splaiul Independentei, 050095, Bucharest, Romania.
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Chemistry, 4-12 Bd. Regina Elisabeta, 030018, Bucharest, Romania.
Sci Rep. 2018 Mar 27;8(1):5289. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-23621-x.
Due to their outstanding properties, quantum dots (QDs) received a growing interest in the biomedical field, but it is of major importance to investigate and to understand their interaction with the biomolecules. We examined the stability of silicon QDs and the time evolution of QDs - protein corona formation in various biological media (bovine serum albumin, cell culture medium without or supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum-FBS). Changes in the secondary structure of BSA were also investigated over time. Hydrodynamic size and zeta potential measurements showed an evolution in time indicating the nanoparticle-protein interaction. The protein corona formation was also dependent on time, albumin adsorption reaching the peak level after 1 hour. The silicon QDs adsorbed an important amount of FBS proteins from the first 5 minutes of incubation that was maintained for the next 8 hours, and diminished afterwards. Under protein-free conditions the QDs induced cell membrane damage in a time-dependent manner, however the presence of serum proteins attenuated their hemolytic activity and maintained the integrity of phosphatidylcholine layer. This study provides useful insights regarding the dynamics of BSA adsorption and interaction of silicon QDs with proteins and lipids, in order to understand the role of QDs biocorona.
由于其出色的性能，量子点（Quantum Dots，QDs）在生物医学领域引起了越来越多的关注，但研究和了解它们与生物分子的相互作用非常重要。我们研究了硅量子点的稳定性以及在不同生物介质（牛血清白蛋白、不含或补充有 10%胎牛血清-FBS 的细胞培养基）中量子点-蛋白质冠形成的时间演变。我们还研究了 BSA 的二级结构随时间的变化。水动力大小和 zeta 电位测量显示出随时间的演变，表明了纳米颗粒与蛋白质的相互作用。蛋白质冠的形成也依赖于时间，白蛋白吸附在 1 小时后达到峰值水平。硅量子点在孵育的前 5 分钟内从 FBS 中吸附了大量蛋白质，随后在接下来的 8 小时内保持不变，之后减少。在无蛋白条件下，QDs 会随时间引起细胞膜损伤，然而血清蛋白的存在会减弱其溶血活性并维持磷脂酰胆碱层的完整性。本研究提供了有关 BSA 吸附和硅量子点与蛋白质和脂质相互作用动力学的有用见解，以了解 QDs 生物冠的作用。
