title: An efficient vector for gene delivery: alpha,beta-poly (3-dimethylaminopropyl-D,L-aspartamide).
abstract: PSI, as the potential peptide-like intermediate, is subject to simple chemical modification in order to obtain good non-viral carriers for gene delivery. This paper describes the facile synthesis and preliminary evaluation of alpha,beta-poly (3-dimethylaminopropyl-D,L-aspartamide) (PDAI) as a vector. Reaction of PSI with 3-dimethylamino-1-propylamine afforded PDAI in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) solution. Such biophysical properties of PDAI/DNA complexes as the particle size and the zeta potential were determined by dynamic light scattering assay. The complexes prepared at weight ratios ranging from 2 to 3 have an average size of around 200 nm and a zeta potential of around 10.0 mV. Gel electrophoresis assays confirmed that PDAI could compact DNA to form the complexes and protect DNA from enzymatic degradation by DNase I at the weight ratio above 2.0. Furthermore, PDAI was found to transfect HepG2 cells at a much higher efficiency than commercially available polyethylenimine (PEI) (W(w)=75,000 Da). MTT cytotoxicity assay demonstrated that PDAI also showed much less toxicity than did PEI, suggesting that PDAI is a new class of transfection reagent to be used as a safe vector.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Department of Biochemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Weihua
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Huajia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Diao
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Chunming
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jiangning
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Junfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D004247:DNA / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006801:Humans; D010455:Peptides / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000633:toxicity; D014162:Transfection / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides; C521698:alpha,beta-poly (3-dimethylaminopropyl-D,L-aspartamide); D004247:DNA