With the potential wide uses of nanoparticles such as carbon nanotubes in biomedical applications, and the growing concerns of nanotoxicity of these engineered nanoparticles, the importance of nanoparticle-protein interactions cannot be stressed enough. In this study, we use both experimental and theoretical approaches, including atomic force microscope images, fluorescence spectroscopy, CD, SDS-PAGE, and molecular dynamics simulations, to investigate the interactions of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with human serum proteins, and find a competitive binding of these proteins with different adsorption capacity and packing modes. The π-π stacking interactions between SWCNTs and aromatic residues (Trp, Phe, Tyr) are found to play a critical role in determining their adsorption capacity. Additional cellular cytotoxicity assays, with human acute monocytic leukemia cell line and human umbilical vein endothelial cells, reveal that the competitive bindings of blood proteins on the SWCNT surface can greatly alter their cellular interaction pathways and result in much reduced cytotoxicity for these protein-coated SWCNTs, according to their respective adsorption capacity. These findings have shed light toward the design of safe carbon nanotube nanomaterials by comprehensive preconsideration of their interactions with human serum proteins.competitive adsorption | nanoparticle-protein corona | hydrophobic interactions | conformational flexibility C arbon nanotubes (CNTs) have a broad range of potential applications, including nanoelectronics (1), biosensors (2), biomolecular recognition devices and molecular transporters (3, 4), and cancer therapy and diagnoses (5-7), because of their extraordinary mechanical, electronic, optical, geometric, and biological properties. Both the pharmacological (8, 9) and toxicological (10-15) profiles of CNTs have attracted much attention in recent years. Nanomedicine provides a great potential in fighting many diseases but a global effort is much needed to safely translate laboratory innovations into clinic trials. Seven grand challenges have been proposed for this endeavor (16). CNTbased multimodality imaging and therapy have been proposed for a variety of medical applications, such as carriers for chemotherapeutic drugs (17, 18), Raman detection and imaging (19,20), photoacoustic imaging, and photothermal therapy of cancers (6, 21). Meanwhile, of equal importance there is the emerging field of nanotoxicology, which aims to address the biosafety of these engineered nanoparticles, in particular, how these nanoparticles interact with human proteins in vivo (22)(23)(24)(25).Many studies have been performed on the biological effects of carbon nanotubes, and the interactions between proteins and CNTs (nanoparticle-protein corona) are believed to play an important role in the biological effects of CNTs (26-28). For example, CNTs could bind with pulmonary surfactant proteins A and D and then lead to susceptibility of lung infection and emphysema in mice (29). When the functionalized CNTs w...

A designed nanostructure with MoS2 nanosheets (NSs) perpendicularly grown on graphene sheets (MoS2/G) is achieved by a facile and scalable hydrothermal method, which involves adsorption of Mo7O24(6-) on a graphene oxide (GO) surface, due to the electrostatic attraction, followed by in situ growth of MoS2. These results give an explicit proof that the presence of oxygen-containing groups and pH of the solution are crucial factors enabling formation of a lamellar structure with MoS2 NSs uniformly decorated on graphene sheets. The direct coupling of edge Mo of MoS2 with the oxygen from functional groups on GO (C-O-Mo bond) is proposed. The interfacial interaction of the C-O-Mo bonds can enhance electron transport rate and structural stability of the MoS2/G electrode, which is beneficial for the improvement of rate performance and long cycle life. The graphene sheets improve the electrical conductivity of the composite and, at the same time, act not only as a substrate to disperse active MoS2 NSs homogeneously but also as a buffer to accommodate the volume changes during cycling. As an anode material for lithium-ion batteries, the manufactured MoS2/G electrode manifests a stable cycling performance (1077 mAh g(-1) at 100 mA g(-1) after 150 cycles), excellent rate capability, and a long cycle life (907 mAh g(-1) at 1000 mA g(-1) after 400 cycles).

Pro-inflammatory S100A9 protein is increasingly recognized as an important contributor to inflammation-related neurodegeneration. Here, we provide insights into S100A9 specific mechanisms of action in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Due to its inherent amyloidogenicity S100A9 contributes to amyloid plaque formation together with Aβ. In traumatic brain injury (TBI) S100A9 itself rapidly forms amyloid plaques, which were reactive with oligomer-specific antibodies, but not with Aβ and amyloid fibrillar antibodies. They may serve as precursor-plaques for AD, implicating TBI as an AD risk factor. S100A9 was observed in some hippocampal and cortical neurons in TBI, AD and non-demented aging. In vitro S100A9 forms neurotoxic linear and annular amyloids resembling Aβ protofilaments. S100A9 amyloid cytotoxicity and native S100A9 pro-inflammatory signaling can be mitigated by its co-aggregation with Aβ, which results in a variety of micron-scale amyloid complexes. NMR and molecular docking demonstrated transient interactions between native S100A9 and Aβ. Thus, abundantly present in AD brain pro-inflammatory S100A9, possessing also intrinsic amyloidogenic properties and ability to modulate Aβ aggregation, can serve as a link between the AD amyloid and neuroinflammatory cascades and as a prospective therapeutic target.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00401-013-1208-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.