The engineered silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) undergo profound chemical transformations in the environment. Amongst the chemicals that drive the environmental reactivity of AgNPs are proteins, which can form a protein corona to coat the NPs, alter aggregation states to influence NP bioavailability, and/or catalyze dissolution to change an NPs environmental fate. Although recent studies have explored the importance of the engineered properties of NPs in the formation of protein coronas, less is known about the impact of environmental conditions on protein-NP interactions. We present characterization of NPs in the presence and absence of proteins to provide insight into the changing surface chemistry and NP morphology over their lifetime. We have compared protein corona populations across AgNPs with varied engineered properties, including sizes and surface coatings. In addition, the protein coronas of AgNPs have been compared across aqueous solutions that mimic environmentally relevant conditions, including solutions with environmentally relevant additives and solution pHs. Bioinformatic analysis of the protein corona populations reveals that, in low buffer concentrations, the formation of the protein corona is dominated by electrostatic interactions between the proteins and NPs. The influence of electrostatics is attenuated by changes in solution conditions through pH and addition of solutes. Protein enrichment on the NPs is compared across numerous samples with varied AgNP engineered properties and solution conditions. Results provide insight into the relative importance of engineered NP properties and uncontrollable environmental variables, such as solution reaction conditions, in the formation of protein coronas.

Nanoparticle protein corona compared across engineered particle properties and environmentally relevant reaction conditions

248th National Meeting (2014)

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