In recent years the fabrication of nanomaterials and exploration of their properties have
attracted the attention of various scientific disciplines such as biology physics chemistry
and engineering. Although nanoparticulate systems are of significant interest in various
scientific and technological areas there is little known about the safety of these nanoscale
objects. It has now been established that the surfaces of nanoparticles are immediately covered
by biomolecules (e.g. proteins ions and enzymes) upon their entrance into a biological
medium. This interaction with the biological medium modulates the surface of the nanoparticles
conferring a ¿biological identity¿ to their surfaces (referred to as a ¿coronä) which
determines the subsequent cellular tissue responses. The new interface between the
nanoparticles and the biological medium proteins called ¿bio-nano interface ¿ has been very
rarely studied in detail to date though the interest in this topic is rapidly growing. In this
book the importance of the physiochemical characteristics of nanoparticles for the properties
of the protein corona is discussed in detail followed by comprehensive descriptions of the
methods for assessing the protein-nanoparticle interactions. The advantages and limitations of
available corona evaluation methods (e.g. spectroscopy methods mass spectrometry nuclear
magnetic resonance electron microscopy X-ray crystallography and differential centrifugal
sedimentation) are examined in detail followed by a discussion of the possibilities for
enhancing the current methods and a call for new techniques. Moreover the advantages and
disadvantages of protein-nanoparticle interaction phenomena are explored and discussed with a
focus on the biological impacts.
