Drug delivery is one of the important fields of nanotechnology since nanoparticles (NPs) can be used as delivery vehicles for various drugs to the human body. When NPs are exposed to the biological fluids of the human body, the proteins and other small molecules present in the body fluids interact with NPs, potentially harming their drug delivery efficiency. Therefore, understanding the loading and unloading performance of NPs in different environments is crucial for developing an effective NP-based drug delivery system. Many synthetic nanoparticles, such as silica nanoparticles and metal oxides, can successfully be used as drug carriers, but they may not be biocompatible, biodegradable, and harmless to the human body. Among natural polymers, lignin nanoparticles exhibit good biodegradability and hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity balance, which makes them good candidates for drug careers. However, information on the interaction of lignin-based nanoparticles and drugs in different environments is lacking. In this study, functionalized lignin nanoparticles were prepared by carboxyalkylation. Then, the effects of pH and salinity on the loading and unloading of protein on the generated lignin-derived NPs were systematically evaluated. In this work, various advanced tools, such as NMR, GPC, DLS, QCM, and XPS, were used to characterize the physicochemical characteristics of lignin NPs and the adsorption and desorption performance of protein on lignin-derived NPs. This study provides insights into the mechanism of protein adsorption and desorption on lignin nanoparticles in different environments.

Loading and unloading of protein on functionalized lignin nanoparticles

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