posted on 2018-01-12, 00:00authored byGrazyna Stepien, María Moros, Marta Pérez-Hernández, Marta Monge, Lucía Gutiérrez, Raluca M. Fratila, Marcelo de las Heras, Sebastián Menao Guillén, Juan José Puente Lanzarote, Conxita Solans, Julián Pardo, Jesús Martínez de la Fuente
The protein corona
formed on the surface of a nanoparticle in a biological medium determines
its behavior in vivo. Herein, iron oxide nanoparticles containing
the same core and shell, but bearing two different surface coatings,
either glucose or poly(ethylene glycol), were evaluated. The nanoparticles’
protein adsorption, in vitro degradation, and in vivo biodistribution
and biotransformation over four months were investigated. Although
both types of nanoparticles bound similar amounts of proteins in vitro,
the differences in the protein corona composition correlated to the
nanoparticles biodistribution in vivo. Interestingly, in vitro degradation
studies demonstrated faster degradation for nanoparticles functionalized
with glucose, whereas the in vivo results were opposite with accelerated
biodegradation and clearance of the nanoparticles functionalized with
poly(ethylene glycol). Therefore, the variation in the degradation
rate observed in vivo could be related not only to the molecules attached
to the surface, but also with the associated protein corona, as the
key role of the adsorbed proteins on the magnetic core degradation
has been demonstrated in vitro.