Sandrine Lacombe | University of Paris-Saclay, France
Abstract
Noble metal materials, especially platinum nanoparticles (Pt NPs), have immense potential in nanomedicineas therapeutic agents on account of their high electron density and their high surface area. Intravenous injec-tion is proposed as the best mode to deliver the product to patients. However, our understanding of the reac-tion of nanoparticles with blood components, especially proteins, is far behind the explosive development ofthese agents. Using synchrotron radiation circular dichroism (SRCD), we investigated the structural and sta-bility changes of human serum albumin (HSA) upon interaction with PEG-OH coated Pt NPs at nanomolarconcentrations, conditions potentially encountered for intravenous injection. There is no strong complexa-tion found between HSA and Pt NPs. However, for the highest molar ratio of NP:HSA of 1:1, an increase of18 °C in the thermal unfolding of HSA was observed, which is attributed to increased thermal stability of HSAgenerated by preferential hydration. This work proposes a new and fast method to probe the potential toxic-ity of nanoparticles intended for clinical use with intravenous injection
