The Photomodification Method Allows for Determining the Composition of the Full and Soft Protein Corona on the Lipid Surface of Composite Nanoparticles

Abstract

A protein corona (PC) is formed and maintained on the surface of any nanoparticle (NP) introduced into biological media. The full PC is formed by a hard and soft corona, and the latter determines the nature of the interaction of NPs with cells and the body’s liquids. Nanomedicines are becoming increasingly important in modern health services, making information about the composition of PCs on the surface of NPs critically important for “managing” the behavior of nano-objects in the body. Currently, only a few studies report on the composition of the complete PC, since the isolation and preservation of the soft corona on the surface of the NP is extremely difficult. Recently, we proposed for the first time a photomodification method to fix PCs on the lipid surface of composite NPs, along with their isolation and purification. In this work, using tandem mass spectrometry, we successively determined the composition of the hard and full corona on the lipid surface of composite NPs, and we also identified the composition of the soft corona. To test the method, we changed the composition of the medium whose proteins formed the soft corona, and we found changes in its composition.

Keywords

• multilevel nanoconstruct
• hard protein corona
• soft protein corona
• full protein corona
• photofixation
• LC MS/MS analysis