Human Insulin Fibril-Assisted Synthesis of Fluorescent Gold Nanoclusters in Alkaline Media Under Physiological Temperature

Authors

Andrew R. Garcia, University of Miami
Ivy Rahn, University of Miami
Sheba Johnson, University of Miami
Ravi Patel, University of Miami
Jingru Guo, University of Miami
Jhony Orbulescu, University of Miami; MP Biomedicals LLC
Miodrag Micic, MP Biomedicals LLC; Cerritos College
Jeffrey D. Whyte, MP Biomedicals LLC
Patricia Blackwelder, University of MiamiFollow
Roger M. Leblanc, University of Miami

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-1-2013

Publication Title

Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces

Keywords

Nanoclusters, Materials chemistry, Insulin, Fibrillation, Biomacromolecular assembly, Photonics

ISSN

0927-7765

Volume

105

First Page

167

Last Page

172

Abstract

Fluorescent insulin fibrils gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) have been synthesized through the reduction of gold by human insulin in fibrillated form. Likewise, nanocluster formation has been regulated by insulin, working as a protein-based template. Environment- and surface-controlled experiments have shown the optimized synthesis conditions is comprised of a pure aqueous alkaline solvent for insulin under constant heat at physiological temperature (37 °C) prior to addition of the Au precursor (HAuCl₄), followed by subsequent heating (37 °C) and vigorous stirring after the addition of HAuCl₄ until the completion of the synthetic approach. Microscopy experiments detected the presence of primordial fibril structures in samples of heated human insulin in the alkaline medium prior to addition of HAuCl₄, while encountering more developed insulin fibrils in the terminal production of Au NCs. This investigation provides insight to the development of a novel synthesis of Au NCs in the alkaline medium, while providing a graphical description of the environmental and surface-dependent effects that were presented in the synthesis of human insulin nanoclusters. The study provides pertinent information for future synthetic procedures, as the protein state of several protein-nanoparticle systems may reflect on the results that were obtained herein.

Comments

©2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Additional Comments

Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfb.2012.12.052.

NSUWorks Citation

Andrew R. Garcia, Ivy Rahn, Sheba Johnson, Ravi Patel, Jingru Guo, Jhony Orbulescu, Miodrag Micic, Jeffrey D. Whyte, Patricia Blackwelder, and Roger M. Leblanc. 2013. Human Insulin Fibril-Assisted Synthesis of Fluorescent Gold Nanoclusters in Alkaline Media Under Physiological Temperature .Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces : 167 -172. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/445.

DOI

10.1016/j.colsurfb.2012.12.052