Issue 37, 2015

Protein corona mitigates the cytotoxicity of graphene oxide by reducing its physical interaction with cell membrane

Abstract

Many recent studies have shown that the way nanoparticles interact with cells and biological molecules can vary greatly in the serum-containing or serum-free culture medium. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of how the so-called “protein corona” formed in serum medium affects nanoparticles’ biological responses are still largely unresolved. Thus, it is critical to understand how absorbed proteins on the surfaces of nanoparticles alter their biological effects. In this work, we have demonstrated with both experimental and theoretical approaches that protein BSA coating can mitigate the cytotoxicity of graphene oxide (GO) by reducing its cell membrane penetration. Our cell viability and cellular uptake experiments showed that protein corona decreased cellular uptake of GO, thus significantly mitigating the potential cytotoxicity of GO. The electron microscopy images also confirmed that protein corona reduced the cellular morphological damage by limiting GO penetration into the cell membrane. Further molecular dynamics (MD) simulations validated the experimental results and revealed that the adsorbed BSA in effect weakened the interaction between the phospholipids and graphene surface due to a reduction of the available surface area plus an unfavorable steric effect, thus significantly reducing the graphene penetration and lipid bilayer damaging. These findings provide new insights into the underlying molecular mechanism of this important graphene protein corona interaction with cell membranes, and should have implications in future development of graphene-based biomedical applications.

Graphical abstract: Protein corona mitigates the cytotoxicity of graphene oxide by reducing its physical interaction with cell membrane

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 Mar 2015
Accepted
14 Aug 2015
First published
21 Aug 2015

Nanoscale, 2015,7, 15214-15224

Protein corona mitigates the cytotoxicity of graphene oxide by reducing its physical interaction with cell membrane

G. Duan, S. Kang, X. Tian, J. A. Garate, L. Zhao, C. Ge and R. Zhou, Nanoscale, 2015, 7, 15214 DOI: 10.1039/C5NR01839K

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements