Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 13: Nanoparticles and Viruses

BP 13.2: Talk

Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 14:30–14:45, H45

Interactions of nanoparticles with serum albumin — •Lennart Treuel, Marcelina Malissek, Julia S. Gebauer, and Reinhard Zellner — Universität Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany

As nanoparticles (NPs) are of the same size scale as typical cellular components and proteins, such particles are suspected to evade the natural defences of the human organism and may lead to permanent cell damages. One major factor that may strongly influence the toxicity is the interaction of these NPs with proteins in body fluids and cells.

Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy is used to determine the interactions of serum albumin with a wide variety of NPs (Ag, Au, Polystyrene, ZnO etc.) in a size range between 5 nm and 100 nm. A multitude of different surface coatings (Citrate, TPPT, PVP etc.) has been used in these experiments in order to identify the key factors driving the NP / protein interaction process. From these measurements dissociation constants for different NP / protein systems have been derived. The results show a strong dependence of the interaction process on both NP material and surface coating. They further suggest a fundamental impact of the nature and persistence of the surface coating on the biological fate of the NP under consideration.