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Molecular Interaction of Functionalized Nanoplastics with Human Hemoglobin

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Abstract

Humans are exposed to excessive nanoplastics (NPs) which have ample affinity for globular proteins. We investigated the interaction of functionalized polystyrene nanoplastics (plain: PS, carboxy: PS-COOH, and amine: PS-NH2) with human hemoglobin (Hb) utilizing multi-spectroscopic and docking approaches to acquire insights into molecular aspects of binding mechanism, which will be helpful in assessing the toxicokinetics or toxicodynamics of nanoplastics NPs. Hypsochromicity and hypochromicity were observed invariably in all the spectra (steady-state fluorescence emission, synchronous and three-dimensional) for all complexes, among which PS-NH2 binds effectively and changes the Hb’s conformation by enhancing hydrophobicity around aromatic residues, notably tryptophan. All the NPs bind with the hydrophobic pocket of B-chain in Hb, where PS and PS-NH2 bind via hydrophobic force while PS-COOH binds via hydrogen bonding (predominantly) and van der Waals force, consistent validated with docking results. The minimal shift in absorbance peak also indicates enhanced hydrophobicity by PS-NH2 with larger aggregation as demonstrated in resonance light scattering. The amide band’s shift, secondary structural analysis, and presence of characteristic functional group peaks in complexes in Infra-Red spectra confirm the structural changes in the protein. As seen in field emission scanning microscopy images, NPs penetrate the surface of proteins. These findings conclude that polystyrene NPs interact with Hb, causing structural alterations that may affect functional characteristics as well, with the greatest effect being in the order: PS-NH2>PS-COOH>PS.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

NPs:

Nanoplastics

Hb:

Human Hemoglobin

3D:

Three-dimensional

RLS:

Resonance light scattering

UV:

Ultraviolet

FTIR:

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.

FE-SEM:

Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy

PS:

Plain polystyrene nanoplastics

PS-COOH:

Carboxy functionalized polystyrene nanoplastics

PS-NH2 :

Amine-functionalized polystyrene nanoplastics

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Funding

The authors express their gratitude to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for providing financial support through Grant-F⋅No 36/2/2020/Toxi/ BMS.

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  1. Centre for Nanobiotechnology, Vellore Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu, Vellore, 632014, India

    Durgalakshmi Rajendran & Natarajan Chandrasekaran

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  1. Durgalakshmi Rajendran
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Durgalakshmi Rajendran: Investigation, Methodology, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing; Natarajan Chandrasekaran: Conceptualization, Supervision, Resources, Project administration, Funding acquisition, Writing – review & editing.

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Correspondence to Natarajan Chandrasekaran.

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Rajendran, D., Chandrasekaran, N. Molecular Interaction of Functionalized Nanoplastics with Human Hemoglobin. J Fluoresc 33, 2257–2272 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-023-03221-3

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