Effect of surface morphology change of polystyrene microspheres through etching on protein corona and phagocytic uptake

Abstract

Surface physicochemistry properties of polymer particles are crucial for protein corona formation and macrophage phagocytosis when they contact with living body. In this work, polystyrene microspheres (PS-MSs) were selected as a model of polymer microparticles and fabricated by chromic acid etching through controlling conditions to obtain different surface morphology structures and to investigate their effect on the protein adsorption and phagocytic uptake of PS-MSs. The adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and fibrinogen (FIB) on PS-MSs showed almost the same tendency, i.e. the etched PS-MSs presented lower protein adsorption compared with original microspheres. The adsorption of BSA and FIB was the lowest when the protuberances on the etched surfaces were maximum and the size of the protuberances was minimum. Furthermore, the surface morphologies of PS-MSs were influenced in return not only by the amounts of proteins but also by protein types. Meanwhile, the macrophages phagocytosis of PS-MSs depended on the amounts and kinds of adsorbed proteins, especially the albumin content. In a word, phagocytosis and protein adsorption can be regulated by microsphere morphologies through etching, which provides a promising strategy to avoid invalid uptake for polymer particles such as drug delivery carriers.

Keywords:

• Polystyrene microspheres
• surface etching
• surface morphology
• protein corona
• phagocytosis

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support offered by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51973130 and 51673129). We would also like to appreciate our laboratory members for their generous help and characterization services supplied by Analytical and Testing Center of Sichuan University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.