Coronal ApoE Protein Combines with LRP1 to Inactivate GSK3β That Mitigates Silica Nanoparticle-Induced Brain Lesion.

Silica nanoparticles (SiO NPs) are widely used engineered materials that warrant their obvious environmental exposure risk. Our previous study has shown that different routes of SiO NP exposure on the glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3β) activity were related to the serum proteins enriched on the surface of SiO NPs, which implied that a particular protein in the serum changed the inherent toxic behavior of SiO NPs and inhibited the activation of GSK3β by SiO NPs. Here, we identified that the SiO NP surface enriched a large amount of apolipoprotein E (ApoE), and the ApoE protein corona bound to the lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1) to inactivate GSK3β, thereby reducing the damage of SiO NPs to the brain. This work presented the first evidence that specific biocorona reduced the toxicity of SiO NPs at the molecular level, which helped to elucidate the role of specific corona components on nanotoxicity.