ZnO nanoparticle-protein interaction: Corona formation with associated unfolding

The interaction as well as the formation of bioconjugate of Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) and Zinc Oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) is investigated. The surface binding along with reorganization of BSA on the surface of ZnO NPs forms stable hard corona. The time constants for surface binding and reorganization are found to be 1.10 min and 70.68 min, respectively. The close proximity binding of BSA with ZnO NPs via tryptophan is responsible for bioconjugate formation. Fibrillar aggregated structure of BSA is observed due to conformational change of BSA in interaction with ZnO NPs. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.