Protein Corona Stability and Removal from PET Microplastics: Analytical and Spectroscopic Evaluation in Simulated Intestinal Conditions

Microplastics entering the gastrointestinal environment rapidly acquire protein coronas that alter their surface chemistry and analytical detectability. We investigated the physic- ochemical interactions between fluorescently labeled bovine serum albumin (BSA) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microplastics during simulated intestinal exposure and evaluated the stability of the resulting hard corona. Using fluorescence tracking, SDS- PAGE, and FTIR spectroscopy, we showed that BSA forms a...