title: Polyamidoamine dendrimer-functionalized carbon nanotubes-mediated GFP gene transfection for HeLa cells: effects of different types of carbon nanotubes.
abstract: Three types of functionalized carbon nanotubes (f-CNTs), polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer-functionalized single and multi-walled CNTs (MWCNT-PAMAM-1, MWCNT-PAMAM-2, and SWCNT-PAMAM-3), were prepared by covalent linkage approach. The micro-morphologies of the three f-CNTs and the interaction of MWCNT-PAMAM-2 with HeLa cells were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The free amine groups on the surface of the three types of CNTs-PAMAM hybrids were quantitatively analyzed. Their cytotoxicity and transfection efficiency of plasmid DNA of enhanced green fluorescent protein (pEGFP-N1) to HeLa cells were investigated in detail. The results suggest that although all three types of CNTs-PAMAM hybrids can deliver pEGFP-N1 into HeLa cells and the exogenous GFP gene has been successfully expressed, MWCNT-PAMAM-2 with shorter length and larger amount of free amine groups on its surface possesses higher transfection efficiency (6.79%), being about 3.0 and 1.7 times as large as those of MWCNT-PAMAM-1 (2.24%) and SWCNT-PAMAM-3 (4.08%), respectively; their cytotoxicity to HeLa cells decrease following the sequence of SWCNT-PAMAM-3 > MWCNT-PAMAM-2 > MWCNT-PAMAM-1. These results may be useful for understanding the effects of the chemical/physical properties of f-CNTs on their gene transfection efficiency and cytotoxicity, allowing for construction of promising CNT-based intracellular delivery vectors for gene therapy.
authors: Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Traditional Chinese Medicine Research (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, People's Republic of China.
authors: Keqin
authors: K
authors: Yang
authors: Weiling
authors: W
authors: Qin
authors: Hao
authors: H
authors: Tang
authors: Liang
authors: L
authors: Tan
authors: Qingji
authors: Q
authors: Xie
authors: Ming
authors: M
authors: Ma
authors: Youyu
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Shouzhuo
authors: S
authors: Yao
mesh_terms: D002470:Cell Survival; D050091:Dendrimers / Q000737:chemistry*; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D008422:Materials Testing; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D011073:Polyamines / Q000737:chemistry*; D014162:Transfection / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D050091:Dendrimers; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; C531249:Poly(amidoamine); D011073:Polyamines; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins