Figure 2.

(a) Schematic representation of nanoparticles used in the second part of this work, bare SiO₂-I and PEG-SiO₂. (b) Absolute value of the variation in hydrodynamic diameter (|ΔD_H|) of SiO₂-I and PEG-SiO₂ in PBS, BSA, and FBS media. Results are displayed as mean ± standard deviation. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Tukey’s test were used for data statistical analysis. Differences were considered significant when P < 0.05. Bars labeled with the same letter indicate no significant difference, while bars labeled with different letters represent statistically significant differences. (c) SAXS curves of bare SiO₂-I in PBS, BSA, and FBS media. (d) Comparison between the concentration of BSA in the precipitated ([BSA]_ads) obtained by BCA assay for SiO₂-I and PEG-SiO₂. Schematic representation of (e) protein corona formation on the surface of bare SiO₂-I. (f) Aggregation of bare SiO₂-I and the (g) corona-free effect of PEG-SiO₂.