Label-Free Study of Protein Adsorption on Nanoparticles.

Improving the design of nanoparticles for use as drug carriers or biosensors requires a better understanding of the protein-nanoparticle interaction. Here, we present a new tool to investigate this interaction and without additional labeling of the proteins and/or nanoparticles. By combining nonresonant second-harmonic light scattering with a modified Langmuir model, we show that it is possible to gain insight into the adsorption behavior of blood proteins, namely fibrinogen, human serum albumin, and transferrin, onto negatively charged polystyrene nanoparticles.