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Ultrasmall fluorescent silver nanoclusters: Protein adsorption and its effects on cellular responses

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Abstract

Ultrasmall silver nanoclusters (AgNCs) are a novel type of fluorescent nanoprobes that have aroused a great deal of interest in recent years. In view of many promising applications in biological research, it is of great importance to explore their behavior in the complex biological environment. In this study, interactions of AgNCs with a model protein, human serum albumin (HSA), have been systematically investigated by using a variety of techniques including absorption spectroscopy, steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence, as well as circular dichroism spectroscopy. The results show that the physicochemical properties of both proteins and AgNCs undergo changes upon their interactions; however, it appears that the overall conformation of HSA remains essentially unaffected in the complex. Binding of HSA to AgNCs was assessed by measuring tryptophan fluorescence quenching of HSA by AgNCs. Furthermore, biological implications of protein adsorption were quantitatively explored by evaluating responses of HeLa cells to AgNC exposure through live-cell fluorescence microscopy and a cytotoxicity test, revealing that protein adsorption has a significant effect on the biological response to AgNC exposure.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Applied Physics and Center for Functional Nanostructures (CFN), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Wolfgang-Gaede-Strasse 1, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Li Shang, René M. Dörlich & G. Ulrich Nienhaus

  2. Institute of Materials Research III, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Vanessa Trouillet & Michael Bruns

  3. Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, 61801, USA

    G. Ulrich Nienhaus

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  1. Li Shang
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  2. René M. Dörlich
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  5. G. Ulrich Nienhaus
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Correspondence to G. Ulrich Nienhaus.

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Shang, L., Dörlich, R.M., Trouillet, V. et al. Ultrasmall fluorescent silver nanoclusters: Protein adsorption and its effects on cellular responses. Nano Res. 5, 531–542 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-012-0238-x

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