title: Sulfhydryl based cationic surfactants and the impact of polyanions on disulfide bond formation: implications for gene transfer vectors.
abstract: Compacting plasmid DNA (pDNA) into a small size is a fundamental necessity for the efficient in vivo transfer of nucleic acids to somatic cells. An approach for accomplishing this is to condense pDNA using cationic detergents with sulfhydryl groups, near their critical micelle concentration. In this study, a model surfactant was used to study how the rate of disulfide bond formation relates to environmental factors. It was shown that the thiol detergent had the ability to form a disulfide bond when oxidized and the presence of polyanions was significantly increased. The addition of a reducing agent disrupted the disulfide bonds initially, but this was followed by disulfide bond reformation in a short time period.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Florida, Gainesville 32610, USA.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Buethe
authors.forename: Anupama
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khanna
authors.forename: Preeti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yadava
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hughes
mesh_terms: D002412:Cations; D016264:Dextran Sulfate; D004220:Disulfides / Q000737:chemistry*; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000737:chemistry; D007848:Laurates / Q000737:chemistry; D008623:Mercaptoethanol / Q000737:chemistry; D008823:Micelles; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D000071228:Polyelectrolytes; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D013500:Surface Tension; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D002412:Cations; D016264:Dextran Sulfate; D004220:Disulfides; D007093:Imidazoles; D007848:Laurates; D008623:Mercaptoethanol; D008823:Micelles; D000071228:Polyelectrolytes; D011108:Polymers; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; C499429:N-dodecyl-2-mercaptoimidazole; C499428:methyl 1-imidazolyl laurate