title: Phospholipid membrane permeability of peptide nucleic acid.
abstract: Phospholipid vesicles (liposomes) as membrane models have been used to study the penetration properties of peptide nucleic acid (PNA), a new DNA analog in which the nucleobases are attached to a pseudo-peptide backbone. The liposomes were characterised by carboxyfluorescein efflux, light-scattering and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy. The liposome structure was found not to be affected by the incorporation of PNA or an oligonucleotide. Two 10-mer fluorescein-labelled PNAs were found to have low efflux rates (half-times of 5.5 and 11 days), comparable to a 10-mer oligonucleotide (half-time of 7 days). We conclude that passive diffusion of unmodified PNA is not an effective way of transport into biological cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Chemistry, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wittung
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kajanus
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nordén
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Malmström
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001692:Biological Transport; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D008081:Liposomes; D008566:Membranes / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D010539:Permeability
chemical_list: D008081:Liposomes; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D004247:DNA