TY - JOUR A1 - Asadujjaman, Asad A1 - Kent, B. A1 - Bertin, Annabelle T1 - Phase transition and aggregation behaviour of an UCST-type copolymer poly(acrylamide-coacrylonitrile) in water: effect of acrylonitrile content, concentration in solution, copolymer chain length and presence of electrolyte N2 - An UCST-type copolymer of acrylamide (AAm) and acrylonitrile (AN) (poly(AAm-co-AN)) was prepared by reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization and its temperature-induced phase transition and aggregation behaviour studied by turbidimetry, static and dynamic light scattering, small angle neutron scattering (SANS) and cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) measurements. The phase transition temperature was found to increase with increasing AN content in the copolymer, concentration of the solutions and copolymer chain length. A significant effect was observed onto the phase transition temperature by addition of different electrolytes into the copolymer solution. The copolymer chains were aggregated below the phase transition temperature and disaggregated above it. The size of the aggregates increases with increasing AN contents and concentration of the copolymer solutions below the phase transition temperature. The copolymer chains were expanded and weekly associated in solution above the phase transition temperature. A model is proposed to explain such association–aggregation behaviour of poly(AAm-co-AN) copolymers depending on AN contents and concentration of the copolymer solutions as a function of temperature. KW - Thermoresponsive polymers KW - UCST-type copolymer PY - 2017 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-394636 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/c6sm02262f SN - 1744-683X SN - 1744-6848 VL - 13 IS - 3 SP - 658 EP - 669 PB - RSC AN - OPUS4-39463 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Bertin, Annabelle T1 - Colloidal clusters of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles stabilized with bioactive catechols for magnetic particle imaging T2 - European Summit for Clinical Nanomedicine 2013, Clinical Nanomedicine & Targeted Medicine: From Antibodies to Nanodrugs, Diagnostic Systems and Targeted Delivery (CLINAM 2013) CY - Basel, Switzerland DA - 2013-06-24 PY - 2013 AN - OPUS4-28743 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Koshkina, Olga A1 - Lang, Thomas A1 - Thiermann, R. A1 - Docter, D. A1 - Stauber, R.H. A1 - Secker, C. A1 - Schlaad, H. A1 - Weidner, Steffen A1 - Mohr, B. A1 - Maskos, M. A1 - Bertin, Annabelle T1 - Temperature-triggered protein adsorption on polymer-coated nanoparticles in serum N2 - The protein corona, which forms on the nanoparticle's surface in most biological media, determines the nanoparticle’s physicochemical characteristics. The formation of the protein corona has a significant impact on the biodistribution and clearance of nanoparticles in vivo. Therefore, the ability to influence the formation of the protein corona is essential to most biomedical applications, including drug delivery and imaging. In this study, we investigate the protein adsorption on nanoparticles with a hydrodynamic radius of 30 nm and a coating of thermoresponsive poly(2-isopropyl-2-oxazoline) in serum. Using multiangle dynamic light scattering (DLS) we demonstrate that heating of the nanoparticles above their phase separation temperature induces the formation of agglomerates, with a hydrodynamic radius of 1 µm. In serum, noticeably stronger agglomeration occurs at lower temperatures compared to serum-free conditions. Cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) revealed a high packing density of agglomerates when serum was not present. In contrast, in the presence of serum, agglomerated nanoparticles were loosely packed, indicating that proteins are intercalated between them. Moreover, an increase in protein content is observed upon heating, confirming that protein adsorption is induced by the alteration of the surface during phase separation. After cooling and switching the surface back, most of the agglomerates were dissolved and the main fraction returned to the original size of approximately 30 nm as shown by asymmetrical flow-field flow fractionation (AF-FFF) and DLS. Furthermore, the amounts of adsorbed proteins are similar before and after heating the nanoparticles to above their phase-separation temperature. Overall, our results demonstrate that the thermoresponsivity of the polymer coating enables turning the corona formation on nanoparticles on and off in situ. As the local heating of body areas can be easily done in vivo, the thermoresponsive coating could potentially be used to induce the agglomeration of nanoparticles and proteins and the accumulation of nanoparticles in a targeted body region. PY - 2015 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.5b00537 SN - 0743-7463 SN - 1520-5827 VL - 31 IS - 32 SP - 8873 EP - 8881 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-34163 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -