Battaglini Matteo, Carmignani Alessio, Ciobanu Dinu Zinovie, Marino Attilio, Catalano Federico, Armirotti Andrea, Ciofani Gianni
Smart Bio-Interfaces, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34, Pontedera 56025, Italy.
Analytical Chemistry Facility, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Morego 30, Genova 16163, Italy.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2025 Feb 19;17(7):10485-10498. doi: 10.1021/acsami.4c21207. Epub 2025 Feb 5.
The term protein corona (PC) indicates proteins adsorbed onto the surface of nanostructures exposed to biological media such as blood or serum. The analysis of the composition, evolution, and effect of the PC complexed with nanomaterials gained attention in recent years due to the importance of these parameters in determining the biological fate of nanostructures. In particular, the PC represents the first component of a nanomaterial interfacing with biological structures, dictating parameters such as nanoparticle internalization, immune response, bioavailability, and even toxicity. Polydopamine nanoparticles (PDNPs), obtained through the polymerization of dopamine, are "smart" materials characterized by high biocompatibility, high antioxidant capacities, high tunability and surface reactivity, biodegradability, and the ability to act as photothermal conversion agents when irradiated with a near-infrared (NIR) light source. Despite many interesting applications of PDNPs are currently described in the scientific literature, there is still no comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of PC formation consequent to the exposure of these nanomaterials to biological media. Moreover, to date, the investigation of the effects of light irradiation of photothermally active nanomaterials on the composition and evolution of the associated PC has been extremely limited. With this work, we aim to provide for the first time an analysis of the phenomenon of PC formation associated with PDNPs, before and after NIR light stimulation. We characterized the PC formed following exposure to human plasma and analyzed the effects of several parameters on the overall PC composition and quantity, such as the PDNP size, presence of a surface functionalization, exposure time, and irradiation with an NIR laser, demonstrating that these parameters play a pivotal role in the resulting PC composition. Eventually, we showed that PDNPs exposed to human plasma have significantly different properties with respect to bare PDNPs, showing higher internalization rates in human glioblastoma cells, a higher light absorption value, and enhanced photothermal conversion abilities.
蛋白质冠层（PC）这一术语指的是吸附在暴露于血液或血清等生物介质中的纳米结构表面的蛋白质。近年来，由于这些参数在决定纳米结构的生物学命运方面的重要性，对与纳米材料复合的蛋白质冠层的组成、演变及其影响的分析受到了关注。特别是，蛋白质冠层代表了纳米材料与生物结构相互作用的首个组成部分，决定着诸如纳米颗粒内化、免疫反应、生物利用度乃至毒性等参数。通过多巴胺聚合得到的聚多巴胺纳米颗粒（PDNP）是“智能”材料，具有高生物相容性、高抗氧化能力、高可调节性和表面反应性、可生物降解性，以及在用近红外（NIR）光源照射时作为光热转换剂的能力。尽管目前科学文献中描述了聚多巴胺纳米颗粒的许多有趣应用，但对于这些纳米材料暴露于生物介质后形成蛋白质冠层的现象仍缺乏全面分析。此外，迄今为止，对光热活性纳米材料的光照射对相关蛋白质冠层的组成和演变的影响的研究极为有限。通过这项工作，我们旨在首次分析近红外光刺激前后与聚多巴胺纳米颗粒相关的蛋白质冠层形成现象。我们对暴露于人体血浆后形成的蛋白质冠层进行了表征，并分析了几个参数对蛋白质冠层整体组成和数量的影响，如聚多巴胺纳米颗粒的尺寸、表面功能化的存在、暴露时间以及近红外激光照射，证明这些参数在最终的蛋白质冠层组成中起着关键作用。最终，我们表明暴露于人体血浆的聚多巴胺纳米颗粒与裸露的聚多巴胺纳米颗粒相比具有显著不同的特性，在人胶质母细胞瘤细胞中显示出更高的内化率、更高的光吸收值以及增强的光热转换能力。
