Functionalized Iron Oxide Nanoparticles containing Polydopamine: Synthesis, Properties, and Interaction with Human Serum Albumin

Abstract

Iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) have been extensively studied for drug/gene delivery, biomedicine, biosensing, and hyperthermia. Functionalizing IONPs with appropriate materials is still highly desired because of their various uses. To design the required functionalized IONPs, polydopamine (PDA) was used to accomplish optimal functionalization because of its sound, functionalized surface, capacity to absorb near-infrared light, and adhesive qualities. The effective attachment of PDA was confirmed by characterizing the Fe3O4@PDA nanoparticles using TEM, FESEM, PXRD, XPS, VSM, and FTIR. The administered nanoparticles interact with the main protein in blood plasma, human serum albumin (HSA). The impact of Fe3O4@PDA nanoparticles on HSA stability and structure was assessed using various spectroscopic methods like synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD), and cytotoxicity tests. In addition, temperature-dependent fluorescence measurements suggested that the type of quenching consists of both static and dynamic quenching simultaneously. A cytotoxicity study in Drosophila melanogaster larvae revealed no cytotoxic effects but did show a minor genotoxic effect only at higher concentrations.