The Effects of Silver Nanoparticles Coatings in Effective Drug Delivery: Human Serum Albumin Interaction

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are increasingly used in nanomedicine and pharmacy due to their valuable properties. AgNPs are synthesized in various ways. The amount of drug binding to Human Serum Albumin (HSA) as the most abundant protein in the circulatory system would affect the drug’s therapeutic concentration and its availability for intracellular targets. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of coating in the synthesis of AgNPs on their ability to interact with HSA.

Fluorescence emission spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, and Zeta potential analysis were used to study the structural effects of HSA after interaction with AgNPs with ethylene glycol dispersion matrix. AgNPs contains sodium citrate stabilizer and uncoated AgNPs.

The fluorescence quenching indicated that AgNPs with ethylene glycol dispersion matrix interacted with HSA with a higher binding constant value compared with two other AgNPs. The CD spectra indicated a reduction in α-helix content of HSA especially after the addition of AgNPs with ethylene glycol dispersion matrix (from 51.45% to 41.71%). The zeta potential analysis showed that the surface charge of HSA was reduced especially after the addition of AgNPs with ethylene glycol dispersion matrix (from -16.73 mV to -11.79 mV).

This study showed that AgNPs with ethylene glycol dispersion matrix interact with HSA more strongly compared with two other AgNPs. This study indicated that the type of coating of AgNPs affects the HSA interaction and consequently affects the nanoparticles transportation and distribution in the blood.