QCM‐D assay for quantifying the swelling, biodegradation, and protein adsorption of intelligent nanogels

Abstract

Environmentally responsive nanomaterials have been developed for drug delivery applications, in an effort to target and accumulate therapeutic agents at sites of disease. Within a biological system, these nanomaterials will experience diverse conditions which encompass a variety of solute identities and concentrations. In this study, we developed a new quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM‐D) assay, which enabled the quantitative analysis of nanogel swelling, protein adsorption, and biodegradation in a single experiment. As a proof of concept, we employed this assay to characterize non‐degradable and biodegradable poly(acrylamide‐co‐methacrylic acid) nanogels. We compared the QCM‐D results to those obtained by dynamic light scattering to highlight the advantages and limitations of each method. We detailed our protocol development and practical recommendations, and hope that this study will serve as a guide for others to design application‐specific QCM‐D assays within the nanomedicine domain. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020, 137, 48655.

Significance of reagents addition sequence on iron anionic reverse flotation and their adsorption characteristics using QCM-D

“…The dissipation shift increase from -2.6 x 10 -6 to 8.2 x 10 -6 showing a slightly rigid adsorption layer of starch on the iron oxide surface. The higher dissipation shifts up to 8.2 x 10 -6 could be due to the swelling of starch molecules adsorbed on the surface of iron oxide (Bouchet-Spinelli et al, 2013;Clegg et al, 2019). The rigidity is because starch molecules cover the surface of iron oxide through reactions with the surface hydroxyl groups of iron oxide particles and the hydroxyl group from the polysaccharide molecules of the starch (Liuyin et al, 2009;Zhang et al, 2011) in addition to the coordination bonds between Fe 3+ of iron oxide surface and the hydroxyl groups of starch (Weissenborn et al, 1995).…”

Self‐Assembly of Soft Cellulose Nanospheres into Colloidal Gel Layers with Enhanced Protein Adsorption Capability for Next‐Generation Immunoassays

“…[ 12 ] Among the latter, classical supramolecular nanogels are defined as swollen nanosized networks of polymer chains [ 20 ] and are already used, for example, to control protein interactions. [ 21–24 ] Controlling these interactions is crucial in diagnostics, tissue engineering, and other biomedical fields [ 25–27 ] and has provoked considerable interest in related communities. [ 21–24,28–33 ] In general, the affinity of proteins to a surface depends on ionic, electrosteric, hydrogen bonding, and hydrophobic interactions.…”

“…[3] However, the potential of functional diagnostics, tissue engineering, and other biomedical fields [25][26][27] and has provoked considerable interest in related communities. [21][22][23][24][28][29][30][31][32][33] In general, the affinity of proteins to a surface depends on ionic, electrosteric, hydrogen bonding, and hydrophobic interactions. [34] Meanwhile, the first two types of interactions are associated with protein charge, which is dependent on the protein's isoelectric point and environment pH.…”

Application of QCM in Peptide and Protein-Based Drug Product Development

“…Moreover, the QCM technique, especially QCM-D, is widely used in cellular characterization [ 42 ] and interactions [ 43 , 44 , 45 ], DNA detection [ 40 , 46 ], and protein detection [ 47 ], as well as high-throughput real-time screening of protein drug targets [ 48 , 49 , 50 ]. Overall, the QCM technology attracts a lot of attention due to the wide variety of possible applications [ 48 , 51 , 52 , 53 ]. The present review is mainly focused on the latest QCM instruments’ achievements in protein and peptide drug product development, with general operations reduced to basic concepts.…”