Issue 41, 2019

Isothermal titration calorimetry as a complementary method for investigating nanoparticle–protein interactions

Abstract

Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) is a complementary technique that can be used for investigations of protein adsorption on nanomaterials, as it quantifies the thermodynamic parameters of intermolecular interactions in situ. As soon as nanomaterials enter biological media, a corona of proteins forms around the nanomaterials, which influences the surface properties and therefore the behavior of nanomaterials tremendously. ITC enhances our understanding of nanoparticle–protein interactions, as it provides information on binding affinity (in form of association constant Ka), interaction mechanism (in form of binding enthalpy ΔH, binding entropy ΔS and Gibbs free energy ΔG) and binding stoichiometry n. Therefore, as a complementary method, ITC enhances our mechanistic understanding of the protein corona. In this minireview, the information obtained from a multitude of ITC studies regarding different nanomaterials and proteins are gathered and relations between nanomaterials’ properties and their resulting interactions undergone with proteins are deduced. Nanomaterials formed of a hydrophilic material without strongly charged surface and steric stabilization experience the weakest interactions with proteins. As a result, such nanomaterials undergo the least unspecific protein-interactions and are most promising for allowing an engineering of the protein corona.

Graphical abstract: Isothermal titration calorimetry as a complementary method for investigating nanoparticle–protein interactions

Article information

Article type
Minireview
Submitted
08 7 2019
Accepted
13 9 2019
First published
24 9 2019
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Nanoscale, 2019,11, 19265-19273

Isothermal titration calorimetry as a complementary method for investigating nanoparticle–protein interactions

D. Prozeller, S. Morsbach and K. Landfester, Nanoscale, 2019, 11, 19265 DOI: 10.1039/C9NR05790K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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