title: Lanthanide-doped chitosan nanospheres as cell nuclei illuminator and fluorescent nonviral vector for plasmid DNA delivery.
abstract: Lanthanide-doped chitosan nanospheres (LDCNs) and lanthanide-Fe(3)O(4)-doped chitosan nanospheres (Fe(3)O(4)-LDCNs) are fabricated and show fluorescence, MRI effectiveness and desirable biocompatibility. Superior to most nanoparticles that were found retained in cytoplasmic organelles rather than the nucleus, the prepared chitosan nanospheres preferentially enter and illuminate the cell nuclei. Complexation of plasmid DNA (pDNA) to the nanospheres was accomplished via electrostatic forces between positively charged chitosan and negatively charged pDNA. Satisfactory results of the complexation indicate that the prepared chitosan nanospheres can serve as a potential fluorescent nonviral vector for pDNA delivery that can fulfill gene delivery and transfer efficiency assessment simultaneously, without an additional step of tagging fluorophores to the vectors carried out in fabrications of currently available pDNA delivery vectors.
authors: Lab of Functional and Biomedical Nanomaterials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266042, China. wangwei@qust.edu.cn
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Wang
authors: Xiangpeng
authors: X
authors: Jiang
authors: Kezheng
authors: K
authors: Chen
mesh_terms: D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D004247:DNA / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000235:genetics; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D052203:Ferrosoferric Oxide / Q000737:chemistry; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D007811:Lanthanum / Q000737:chemistry*; D008422:Materials Testing; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D054118:Nanospheres / Q000737:chemistry*; D010957:Plasmids; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013499:Surface Properties; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D007811:Lanthanum; D004247:DNA; D048271:Chitosan; D052203:Ferrosoferric Oxide