Dynamic changes of protein corona compositions on the surface of zinc oxide nanoparticle in cell culture media

The potential applications of nanomaterials used in nanomedicine as ingredients in drug delivery systems and in other products continue to expand. When nanomaterials are introduced into physiological environments and driven by energetics, they readily associate proteins forming a protein corona (PC) on their surface. This PC could result in an alteration of the nanomaterial’s surface characteristics, affecting their interaction with cells due to conformational changes in adsorbed protein molecules. However, our current understanding of nanobiological interactions is still very limited. Utilizing a liquid chromatography–mass spectroscopy/mass spectroscopy technology and a Cytoscape plugin (ClueGO) approach, we examined the composition of the PC for a set of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONP) from cell culture media typically and further analyzed the biological interaction of identified proteins, respectively. In total, 36 and 33 common proteins were investigated as being bound to ZnONP at 5 min and 60 min, respectively. These proteins were further analyzed with ClueGO, a Cytoscape plugin, which provided gene ontology and the biological interaction processes of identified proteins. Proteins bound to the surface of nanoparticles that may modify the structure, therefore the function of the adsorbed protein could be consequently affect the complicated biological processes. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].