CHAPTER 4. NP–Protein Corona Interaction: Characterization Methods and Analysis

Interaction of nanoparticles with aqueous biological systems results in the formation of a shell structure around the nanoparticles – a phenomenon widely known as protein corona formation. The interaction of nanoparticles with proteins present in the biological medium can result in several physical and chemical changes which are significantly influenced by the composition of that medium and the nanoparticles chemistry. Focusing on multiple advanced analytical techniques like dynamic light scattering (DLS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and mass spectrometry (MS), this chapter explores the dynamics of such nanoparticle–protein corona (NP–PC) interactions, revealing information about corona formation as well as its composition. The NP–PC complexes are distinguished based on various parameters that are thought to govern the time-dependent evolution of the protein corona. This chapter also briefly describes various methods and instrumentation techniques that are currently used to characterize NP–PC complex. It emphasizes that the physiological responses of nanoparticles to a biological system may alter due to the modification of nanoparticles into NP–PC complexes and must be characterized before they can be placed in real applications.