We studied the adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) from phosphate-buffered saline (pH 7.4) to hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces. Attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, supported by spectral simulation, allowed us to determine with high precision the amount of BSA adsorbed (surface coverage) and its structural composition. The adsorbed BSA molecules had an alpha-helical structure on both hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces but had different molecular conformations and adsorption strengths on the two types of surface. Adsorption of BSA was saturated at around 50% surface coverage on the hydrophobic surface, whereas on the hydrophilic surface the adsorption reached 95%. The BSA molecules adsorbed to the hydrophilic surface with a higher interaction strength than to the hydrophobic surface. Very little adsorbed BSA could be desorbed from the hydrophilic surface, even using 0.1 M sodium dodecyl sulfate, a strong detergent solution. The formation of BSA-phosphate surface complexes was observed under different BSA adsorption conditions on hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces. The formation of these complexes correlated with the more efficient blocking of nonspecific interactions by the adsorbed BSA layer. Results from the molecular modeling of BSA interactions with hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces support the spectroscopic findings.

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Molecular level understanding of permeation of nanoparticles through human skin establishes the basis for development of novel transdermal drug delivery systems and design and formulation of cosmetics. Recent experiments suggest that surface coated nano-sized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) can penetrate the rat and human skin. However, the mechanisms by which these AuNPs penetrate are not well understood. In this study, we have carried out coarse grained molecular dynamics simulations to explore the permeation of dodecanethiol coated neutral hydrophobic AuNPs of different sizes (2–5 nm) and surface charges (cationic and anionic) through the model skin lipid membrane. The results indicate that the neutral hydrophobic AuNPs disrupted the bilayer and entered in it with in ~200 ns, while charged AuNPs were adsorbed on the bilayer headgroup. The permeation free energy calculation revealed that at the head group of the bilayer, a very small barrier existed for neutral hydrophobic AuNP while a free energy minimum was observed for charged AuNPs. The permeability was maximum for neutral 2 nm gold nanoparticle (AuNP) and minimum for 3 nm cationic AuNP. The obtained results are aligned with recent experimental findings. This study would be helpful in designing customized nanoparticles for cosmetic and transdermal drug delivery application.