Nanomaterials offer promising solutions as drug delivery systems and imaging agents in response to the demand for better therapeutics and diagnostics. However, the limited understanding of the interaction between nanoparticles and biological entities is currently hampering the development of new systems and their applications in clinical settings. Proteins and lipids in biological fluids are known to complex with nanoparticles to form a “biomolecular corona”. This has been shown to affect particles' morphology and behavior in biological systems and their interactions with cells. Hence, understanding how nanomaterials' physicochemical properties affect the formation and composition of this biocorona is a crucial step. This work evaluates existing literature on how morphology (size and shape), and surface chemistry (charge and hydrophobicity) of nanoparticles influence the formation of protein corona. The latest evidence suggest that although surface charge promotes the interaction with proteins and lipids, surface chemistry plays a leading role in determining the affinity of the nanoparticle for biomolecules and, ultimately, the composition of the corona. More recently the study of additional nanoparticles' properties like shape and surface chirality have demonstrated a significant effect on protein corona architecture, providing new tools to tailor biomolecular corona formation.This article is categorized under: Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Emerging Technologies Toxicology and Regulatory Issues in Nanomedicine > Toxicology of Nanomaterials

Despite growing interest in the environmental impact of microplastics, a standardized characterization method is not available. We carried out a systematic analysis of reliable global data detailing the relative abundance of polymers in freshwaters and estuaries. The polymers were identified according to seven main categories: polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyurethane and a final category of miscellaneous plastic. The results show that microplastics comprised of polyvinyl chloride and polyurethane are significantly less abundant than would be expected based on global production, possibly due to their use. This has implications for models of microplastic release into the environment based on production and fate. When analysed by matrix (water, sediment or biota) distinct profiles were obtained for each category. Polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene were more abundant in sediment than in biota, while miscellaneous plastics was more frequent in biota. The data suggest that environmental sorting of microplastic particles, influenced by physical, chemical and biological processes, may play a key role in environmental impact, although partitioning among matrices based on density was not realized. The distinct profile of microplastics in biota raises an important question regarding potential selectivity in uptake by organisms, highlighting the priority for more and better-informed laboratory exposure studies.

The synthesis and kinetic characterisation of soluble imprinted acrylamide based microgels incorporating arginine and tyrosine derivatives as additional functional monomers is reported.