Interaction of Carbon Dots from Grilled Spanish Mackerel with Human Serum Albumin, γ-Globulin and Fibrinogen

Abstract

The potential biological effects of food-borne carbon dots (FCDs) generated during food heating procedures on human health has received great attention. The FCDs will be inevitably exposed to blood proteins along with our daily diet to produce unknown biological effects. In this study, the interaction between FCDs extracted from grilled Spanish mackerel and three main types of human plasma proteins including human serum albumin (HSA), human γ-globulin (HGG) and human fibrinogen (HF) was reported. It was found that the grilled Spanish mackerel FCDs could affect the morphology, size and surface electrical properties of the three proteins. The interaction between the FCDs and proteins had different effects on the secondary structure of the three proteins through a static mechanism. The tested HSA, HGG, and HF could adsorb FCDs to reach saturation state within 0.5 min after the adsorption happened. The binding affinity of the FCDs to the plasma proteins was sorted as follows: HF > HGG > HSA. The results of FCDs interacted with plasma proteins provided useful information in the assessment of the safety of FCDs in our daily diet.

Physicochemical characterization, biodistribution, and bio‐effects of fluorescent carbon dots from roasted Spanish mackerel

“…To carefully evaluating the cellular uptake of CDs, the three types of representative proteins with the highest content in the blood, HSA, HGG, and HF, were selected to explore the possible impact of protein corona on the cellular uptake of CDs. The spontaneous interaction between CDs and three proteins has been confirmed in previous studies (Cui et al., 2021). CDs have been shown to have Ex‐dependent fluorescence Em behavior, which allows CDs to be used as a fluorescent indicator for quantitative and qualitative cellular uptake studies.…”

“…The average size of caveolin-based vesicles is generally smaller than clathrin-based vesicles, so it is expected that larger nanoparticles will be preferentially taken up by cells via clathrin (de Almeida et al, 2021). In previous works, HGG was reunited after interaction with CDs, and the size increased with agglomeration may be the reason for the changes in the HGG-CDs uptake pathway (Cui et al, 2021). Macropinocytosis usually targets the cellular uptake of larger particles (Bloomfield & Kay, 2016).…”

An overview on animal/human biomass-derived carbon dots for optical sensing and bioimaging applications

“…The isolation of CDs from processed animal derivatives began with char from overcooked barbeque beef. 148 Subsequently, CDs were extracted from roasted hamburger, 149 grilled/roasted pike eel, 150,151 baked lamb, 152–154 roasted duck, 155,156 roasted chicken/chicken breast, 157–160 roasted mackerel fish, 161,162 roasted salmon fish, 163 roasted pork, 164 and roasted beef. 165 Among them, the excellent QYs of the roasted pike eel-derived N-CDs (68.7% and 80.16%) were remarkable, which were attributed to the abundant N-doping (15.91 and 16.39 atomic%, respectively) and surface-passivated amine-linkage or stable excited states.…”

Carbon dots enhanced cold tolerance of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.): scavenging reactive oxygen species, modulating hormones and up-regulating gene expression

“…62,63 The interaction between food-borne CDs and human serum albumin (HAS) can significantly reduce cytotoxicity. 64 Protein-coated nano-CdS can enhance the expression of cell surface receptors and initiate related signaling pathways. 65 Tang et al demonstrated that overexpression of MAPK genes could enhanced plant cold tolerance.…”