Fluorescent nanoparticles (FNPs) produced from roast meat have drawn widespread attention due to their potential hazards to human health. In this paper, the presence of ultrasmall FNPs in roast duck and their interaction with human serum albumin (HSA) were reported. The processing-induced FNPs have an average size of 1.3 nm with a relative fluorescence quantum yield of 4.4%. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that the FNPs are composed of carbon (70.48%), nitrogen (6.25%), oxygen (22.17%) and sulfur (1.11%), with hydroxyl, carboxyl and amino groups present on their surface. The presence of FNPs could cause fluorescence quenching of HSA, which was ascribed to the static quenching mechanism via the electrostatic interaction as analyzed by isothermal titration calorimetry. The α-helix contents of HSA decreased after the addition of FNPs, demonstrating that these processing-induced FNPs could cause structural alteration of HSA. These results provided insights into the formation of nanoparticles in roast duck, and offered important information about the binding mechanism of these nanoparticles with HSA, which may have physiological implications.

中文翻译：

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源自烤鸭的超小荧光纳米粒子：其理化特性及其与人血清白蛋白的相互作用†

烤肉产生的荧光纳米颗粒（FNP）由于对人体健康具有潜在危害，因此受到了广泛的关注。本文报道了烤鸭中超小FNP的存在及其与人血清白蛋白（HSA）的相互作用。加工诱导的FNP具有1.3 nm的平均大小，相对荧光量子产率为4.4％。X射线光电子能谱表明，FNP由碳（70.48％），氮（6.25％），氧（22.17％）和硫（1.11％）组成，表面上有羟基，羧基和氨基。FNPs的存在可能引起HSA的荧光猝灭，这归因于静态猝灭机理。通过等温滴定热分析法分析的静电相互作用。加入FNP后，HSA的α-螺旋含量降低，表明这些加工诱导的FNP可能引起HSA的结构改变。这些结果提供了洞察烤鸭中纳米颗粒形成的见解，并提供了有关这些纳米颗粒与HSA结合机制的重要信息，这可能具有生理学意义。