Controlled Formation of a Protein Corona Composed of Denatured BSA on Upconversion Nanoparticles Improves Their Colloidal Stability

• Published in: Materials Vol. 14; no. 7; p. 1657
• Main Authors: Shanwar, Samah, Liang, Liuen, Nechaev, Andrey V, Bausheva, Daria K, Balalaeva, Irina V, Vodeneev, Vladimir A, Roy, Indrajit, Zvyagin, Andrei V, Guryev, Evgenii L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 28.03.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Adsorption; Biological properties; colloidal stability; Colloids; Control stability; Cytotoxicity; Fourier transforms; Laboratories; Ligands; lyophilization; Nanoparticles; Photoluminescence; protein corona; Proteins; Serum albumin; Serum proteins; Tumors; Upconversion; upconversion nanoparticles; United States > US; Russia; colloidal stability; lyophilization; upconversion nanoparticles; protein corona
• ISSN: 1996-1944; 1996-1944
• DOI: 10.3390/ma14071657

In the natural fluidic environment of a biological system, nanoparticles swiftly adsorb plasma proteins on their surface forming a "protein corona", which profoundly and often adversely affects their residence in the systemic circulation in vivo and their interaction with cells in vitro. It has been recognized that preformation of a protein corona under controlled conditions ameliorates the protein corona effects, including colloidal stability in serum solutions. We report on the investigation of the stabilizing effects of a denatured bovine serum albumin (dBSA) protein corona formed on the surface of upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs). UCNPs were chosen as a nanoparticle model due to their unique photoluminescent properties suitable for background-free biological imaging and sensing. UCNP surface was modified with nitrosonium tetrafluoroborate (NOBF ) to render it hydrophilic. UCNP-NOBF nanoparticles were incubated in dBSA solution to form a dBSA corona followed up by lyophilization. As produced dBSA-UCNP-NOBF demonstrated high photoluminescence brightness, sustained colloidal stability after long-term storage and the reduced level of serum protein surface adsorption. These results show promise of dBSA-based nanoparticle pretreatment to improve the amiability to biological environments towards theranostic applications.