title: Water-soluble N-[(2-hydroxy-3-trimethylammonium)propyl]chitosan chloride as a nucleic acids vector for cell transfection.
abstract: To endow the cationic polysaccharides with solubility in the whole pH-range without loss of functionality of the amino groups, different chitosan samples were treated with glycidyltrimethylammonium chloride. Each modified unit of the exhaustively alkylated quaternized chitosan (QCht) contained both quaternary and secondary amino groups. The intercalated dye displacement assay and ζ-potential measurements implied stability of QCht polyplexes at physiological conditions and protonation of the secondary amino groups in slightly acidic media which is favorable for transfection according to proton sponge mechanism. The cytotoxicity and transfection efficacy increased with the chain lengthening. Nevertheless, the longest chains of QCht, 250 kDa were less toxic than PEI for COS-1 cells and revealed comparable and even significantly higher transfection activity of siRNA and plasmid DNA, respectively. Thus, highly polymerized QCht (250 kDa) provided the highest level of the plasmid DNA transfection being 5 and 80 times more active than QCht (100 kDa) and QCht (50 kDa), respectively, and 4-fold more effective than PEI, 25 kDa. The established influence of QCht molecular weight on toxicity and transfection efficacy allows elaborating polysaccharide vectors that possess rational balance of these characteristics.
authors.affiliation: I.I. Mechnikov Research Institute for Vaccines and Sera, RAMS, 15, 1st Dubrovskaya Str., 115088 Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Evgeny
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Faizuloev
authors.affiliation: I.I. Mechnikov Research Institute for Vaccines and Sera, RAMS, 15, 1st Dubrovskaya Str., 115088 Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marova
authors.affiliation: I.I. Mechnikov Research Institute for Vaccines and Sera, RAMS, 15, 1st Dubrovskaya Str., 115088 Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nikonova
authors.affiliation: A.V. Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis, RAS, 29, Leninsky prospekt, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Volkova
authors.affiliation: A.V. Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis, RAS, 29, Leninsky prospekt, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gorshkova
authors.affiliation: M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Chemistry Department, 119991 Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Izumrudov
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019556:COS Cells; D048271:Chitosan / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D010957:Plasmids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D014162:Transfection / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers; C572320:N-((2-hydroxy-3-trimethylammonium)propyl)chitosan chloride; D004247:DNA; D048271:Chitosan