Bio-reducible polycations from ring-opening polymerization as potential gene delivery vehicles.
Synthetic polycations show great potential for the construction of ideal non-viral gene delivery systems. Several cationic polymers were synthesized by the epoxide ring-opening polymerization between diepoxide and various polyamines. Disulfide bonds were introduced to afford the polymers bio-reducibility, while the oxygen-rich structure might enhance the serum tolerance and biocompatibility. The polycations have much lower molecular weights than PEI 25 kDa, but still could well bind and condense DNA into nano-sized particles. DNA could be released from the polyplexes by addition of reductive DTT. Compared to PEI, the polycations have less cytotoxicity possibly due to their lower molecular weights and oxygen-rich structure. More significantly, these materials exhibit excellent serum tolerance than PEI, and up to 6 times higher transfection efficiency than PEI could be obtained in the presence of serum. The transfection mediated by was seldom affected even at a high concentration of serum. Much lower protein adsorption of polycations than PEI was proved by bovine serum albumin adsorption experiments. Flow cytometry also demonstrates their good serum resistance ability.
Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Technology (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, PR China. xqyu@scu.edu.cn jzhang@scu.edu.cn.
Qing-Ying
QY
Yu
Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Technology (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, PR China. xqyu@scu.edu.cn jzhang@scu.edu.cn.
Yan-Hong
YH
Liu
Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Technology (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, PR China. xqyu@scu.edu.cn jzhang@scu.edu.cn.
Zheng
Z
Huang
Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Technology (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, PR China. xqyu@scu.edu.cn jzhang@scu.edu.cn.
Ji
J
Zhang
Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Technology (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, PR China. xqyu@scu.edu.cn jzhang@scu.edu.cn.
Chao-Ran
CR
Luan
Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Technology (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, PR China. xqyu@scu.edu.cn jzhang@scu.edu.cn.
Qin-Fang
QF
Zhang
Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Technology (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, PR China. xqyu@scu.edu.cn jzhang@scu.edu.cn.
Xiao-Qi
XQ
Yu
D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D065546:Drug Liberation; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D008970:Molecular Weight; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D011094:Polyethyleneimine / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D058105:Polymerization; D014162:Transfection
D004337:Drug Carriers; D011094:Polyethyleneimine; D004247:DNA