Dynamics of silica nanoparticles in complex biological fluids through the XPCS technique

• Grant number: 23/02144-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: April 01, 2023
• Status: Discontinued
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Physical-Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Mateus Borba Cardoso
• Grantee: Caroline Ezequiel de Paulo da Silva
• Host Institution: Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais (CNPEM). Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Brasil). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/12071-6 - Tailoring colloids through supramolecular interactions: from fundamentals to applications, AP.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/22949-7 - Dynamics of silica nanoparticles in bacterial media, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

The effectiveness of nanomedicines is strongly dependent on how they interact with the biological environment in which they were administered, since phenomena such as protein adsorption (protein corona), agglomeration or degradation of nanoparticles can occur, which, in turn, may affect their therapeutic performance. For this reason, it is essential to understand how these nanoparticles behave in biological fluids and how their physicochemical parameters (size, morphology, surface charge, etc.) are affected. The most commonly techniques used to characterize these parameters are dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta potential and transmission (TEM) and scanning (SEM) electron microscopies. However, these tools are limited to suspensions of nanoparticles that are dispersed in aqueous or buffered media, in addition to being in a low concentration regime and optically transparent. These media differ a lot from the real biological media, as well as the behavior of nanoparticles can also differ, so these types of characterization will not always show what actually happens. For this reason, the motivation of this project is to present the X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) technique as an alternative for in situ characterization of the dynamics of silica nanoparticles (SiO2NPs) in complex biological fluids, such as plasma, serum and potentially human blood.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

SILVA, CAROLINE E. P.; PICCO, AGUSTIN S.; GALDINO, FLAVIA ELISA; DE BURGOS MARTINS DE AZEVEDO, MARIANGELA; CATHCARTH, MARILINA; PASSOS, ALINE R.; CARDOSO, MATEUS BORBA. Distinguishing Protein Corona from Nanoparticle Aggregate Formation in Complex Biological Media Using X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy. Nano Letters, v. 24, n. 42, p. 7-pg., 2024-10-01. (20/00767-3, 21/12071-6, 23/02144-1)