Home
Resources
Publications
Physicochemical and Transfection Properties of Cationic Hydroxyethylcellulose/DNA Nanoparticles

Physicochemical and Transfection Properties of Cationic Hydroxyethylcellulose/DNA Nanoparticles

Farzaneh Fayazpour, Bart Lucas, Carmen Alvarez-Lorenzo, Niek N Sanders, Jo Demeester, Stefaan C De Smedt

Biomacromolecules. 2006 Oct;7(10):2856-62.

PMID: 17025362

Abstract:

In this study the physicochemical and transfection properties of cationic hydroxyethylcellulose/plasmid DNA (pDNA) nanoparticles were investigated and compared with the properties of DNA nanoparticles based on polyethylene imine (PEI), which is widely investigated as a gene carrier. The two types of cationic hydroxyethylcelluloses studied, polyquaternium-4 (PQ-4) and polyquaternium-10 (PQ-10), are already commonly used in cosmetic and topical drug delivery devices. Both PQ-4 and PQ-10 spontaneously interact with pDNA with the formation of nanoparticles approximately 200 nm in size. Gel electrophoresis and fluorescence dequenching experiments indicated that the interactions between pDNA and the cationic celluloses were stronger than those between pDNA and PEI. The cationic cellulose/pDNA nanoparticles transfected cells to a much lesser extent than the PEI-based pDNA nanoparticles. The low transfection property of the PQ-4/pDNA nanoparticles was attributed to their neutrally charged surface, which does not allow an optimal binding of PQ-4/pDNA nanoparticles to cellular membranes. Although the PQ-10/pDNA nanoparticles were positively charged and thus expected to be taken up by cells, they were also much less efficient in transfecting cells than were PEI/pDNA nanoparticles. Agents known to enhance the endosomal escape were not able to improve the transfection properties of PQ-10/pDNA nanoparticles, indicating that a poor endosomal escape is, most likely, not the major reason for the low transfection activity of PQ-10/pDNA nanoparticles. We hypothesized that the strong binding of pDNA to PQ-10 prohibits the release of pDNA from PQ-10 once the PQ-10/pDNA nanoparticles arrive in the cytosol of the cells. Tailoring the nature and extent of the cationic side chains on this type of cationic hydroxyethylcellulose may be promising to further enhance their DNA delivery properties.

Chemicals Related in the Paper:

Catalog Number	Product Name	Structure	CAS Number	Price
AP927691212	PQ-10		927691-21-2	Price

As a specialist in analytical chemical Products, Alfa Chemistry offers consumers a wealth of raw materials and a full range of technologies and services.

QUICK LINKS

HEADQUARTERS

Tel:

Fax:

Email: