title: Crosslinked self-assemblies of lipoid acid-substituted low molecular weight (1800 Da) polyethylenimine as reductive-sensitive non-viral gene vectors.
abstract: In this study, amphiphilic polyethylenimine-graft-thioctic acid (PEI-TA) and polyethylenimine-graft-lauric acid (PEI-LA) were synthesized. Both PEI-TA and PEI-LA could self-assemble into micelles. Due to the existence of disulfide-linked rings at the end of hydrophobic moieties, PEI-TA could form stable micelles with disulfide crosslinked cores (PEI-TA-SS). In comparison with the PEI-LA micelle, PEI-TA-SS possessed higher DNA binding ability according to the gel retardation assay and heparin replacement assay. In vitro transfection experiments indicated that PEI-TA-SS showed comparably high transfection efficiency as compared to 25 kDa PEI. More interestingly, the luciferase expression of PEI-TA-SS was superior to that of PEI-LA at low N/P ratio, which might be ascribed to the stronger binding capacity of PEI-TA-SS facilitating the entering of PEI-TA-SS/pDNA complexes into cells.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biomedical Polymers of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Molecular Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaojiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zhefan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Xiaoqing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: Renxi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhuo
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents / Q000737:chemistry; D004247:DNA / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000235:genetics; D004220:Disulfides / Q000737:chemistry; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D007850:Lauric Acids / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D008823:Micelles; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D011094:Polyethyleneimine / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D008063:Thioctic Acid / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents; D004220:Disulfides; D007850:Lauric Acids; D008823:Micelles; C030358:lauric acid; D008063:Thioctic Acid; D011094:Polyethyleneimine; D004247:DNA