Spectroscopy and Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy To Probe the Interaction of Bovine Serum Albumin with Graphene Oxide

The interaction of graphene oxide (GO) with bovine serum albumin (BSA) in aqueous buffer solution has been investigated with various spectroscopic and imaging techniques. At single molecular resolution this interaction has been performed using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) techniques. The conformational dynamics of BSA on GO's influence have been explored by FCS and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. For the FCS studies BSA was labeled covalently by a fluorophore, Alexa Fluor 488. On the addition of GO in phosphate buffer of 10 mM at pH 7.4 the diffusion time (tau(D)) and the hydrodynamic radius (R-h) of BSA increase due to adsorption of BSA. Conformational relaxation time components of native BSA drastically vary with the addition of GO, signifying the change of conformational dynamics of BSA after addition of GO. The adsorption isotherm also indicates significant adsorption of BSA on the GO surface. Adsorption of BSA on the GO surface has shown in direct images of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and FLIM. Fluorescence quenching study of BSA with addition of GO also indicates that there is strong interaction between BSA and GO.