Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance as a Tool to Study Protein Corona Formation on Nanoparticles
Nasrin Hooshmand, Akshaya Thoutam, Max Anikovskiy, Hagar I. Labouta, Mostafa A. El‐Sayed
Abstract
It is now well-accepted that nanoparticles (NPs) introduced into a biological environment will interact with the available proteins that deposit on their surface in a process known as protein corona (PC) formation which control NP interactions with cells and biological barriers. Several investigations have been conducted to understand the mechanisms and kinetics of PC formation. Among the model nanoprobes are gold (Au) NPs that possess unique optical and electromagnetic properties due to their surface plasmon resonance. These properties make Au NPs excellent probes for studying PC formation. In this Review, we describe techniques and approaches that a researcher interested in investigating PC on Au NPs may utilize in order to characterize the PC formation.