Study of the Interaction of Folic Acid-modified Gold Nanorods and Fibrinogen through Microfluidics: Implications on Protein Adsorption, Incorporation and Viability of Cancer Cells

Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are an attractive nanomaterial for potential applications in therapy and diagnostic due to their capability to direct toward specific sites in the organism. However, when exposed to plasma, AuNPs can interact with different biomolecules that form a dynamic nano-bio interface called “protein corona” (PC). Remarkably, PC could affect multiple biological processes, such as cell targeting and uptake, cytotoxicity, and nanoparticle (NP) clearance. The interaction of nanomaterials with plasmatic proteins has been widely studied in bulk conditions, however, in dynamic conditions has just recently been explored. Thus, to mimic a dynamic natural environment found in arteries and veins, microfluidic devices were used. In this work, gold nanorods (GNRs) were synthesized and conjugated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to reduce their interaction with plasma proteins and increase their biocompatibility. Then, GNRs were functionalized with folic acid, a targeting ligand typically used to recognize tumor cells. The resulted nanosystem was exposed to fibrinogen (FB) to study the development and biological impact of PC formation through two strategies: bulk and laminar flow conditions. The obtained nanosystems were characterized by absorption spectrophotometry, DLS, laser Doppler microelectrophoresis, neutron activation analysis, circular dichroism spectroscopy and TEM. Finally, cell viability and cellular uptake assays were performed to study the influence of PC on the cell viability and delivery of nanosystems.