Silver Nanoparticle Morphologies: Key Determinants of Interactions with Fibrinogen

The interfacial interactions occurring between fibrinogen (FIB) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) induce morphological alterations in AgNPs as well as structural modifications to the FIB molecule. Herein, Through ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy, we investigated the interactive effects between three distinct morphologies (nanospheres, nanorods, and nanotriangles) of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and fibrinogen (FIB). Our results showed that the FIB concentration affected the degree of aggregation of AgNPs in the three morphologies, especially Ag nanospheres and nanotriangles, as well as protein corona formation. In addition, the secondary structure of FIB was affected by the three AgNP morphologies; specifically, Ag nanospheres and nanotriangles interacting with FIB reduced the α-helical structure of FIB, whereas Ag nanorods interacting with FIB enhanced this structure. Based on our characterization analysis, we determined that the three Ag morphologies have different interaction mechanisms with FIB, which provides an important theoretical basis for further study in this area, as well as greater insight into the safe use of AgNPs in the field of nano drug delivery applications. Most importantly, the findings from this work will provide some novel insights into the potential physiological response and biological effect of nanoparticles in biological systems.