Electrical Field-Assisted Gene Delivery from Polyelectrolyte Multilayers

Abstract

To sustain gene delivery and elongate transgene expression, plasmid DNA and cationic nonviral vectors can be deposited through layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly to form polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs). Although these macromolecules can be released for transfection purposes, their entanglement only allows partial delivery. Therefore, how to efficiently deliver immobilized genes from PEMs remains a challenge. In this study, we attempt to facilitate their delivery through the pretreatment of the external electrical field. Multilayers of polyethylenimine (PEI) and DNA were deposited onto conductive polypyrrole (PPy), which were placed in an aqueous environment to examine their release after electric field pretreatment. Only the electric field perpendicular to the substrate with constant voltage efficiently promoted the release of PEI and DNA from PEMs, and the higher potential resulted in the more releases which were enhanced with treatment time. The roughness of PEMs also increased after electric field treatment because the electrical field not only caused electrophoresis of polyelectrolytes and but also allowed electrochemical reaction on the PPy electrode. Finally, the released DNA and PEI were used for transfection. Polyplexes were successfully formed after electric field treatment, and the transfection efficiency was also improved, suggesting that this electric field pretreatment effectively assists gene delivery from PEMs and should be beneficial to regenerative medicine application.

A closer physico-chemical look to the Layer-by-Layer electrostatic self-assembly of polyelectrolyte multilayers

“…The use of light sensitive materials (mainly to low intensity UV radiation or near infrared radiation) on the fabrication of LbL capsules have also allowed the transport of the nanocapsules to a specific target, which open important possibilities for designing materials with specific targeting abilities [369]. Cheng et al [370]demonstrated that the application of an electrical field allows triggering the release of gene material (DNA) from its electrostatically assembled multilayers with PEI. The next step for the application of LbL capsules is the fabrication of smart systems enabling the triggering of the release as result of their expose to several stimuli, which provides the bases for an appropriate mimicking of the natural systems [361,364].…”

Chitosan-miRNA functionalized microporous titanium oxide surfaces via a layer-by-layer approach with a sustained release profile for enhanced osteogenic activity

“…Positively and negatively charged polyelectrolytes can be alternately adsorbed via electrostatic adsorption to fabricate a polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) film; this is referred to as layer-by-layer (LbL) technology [29,30]. PEMs with controlled loading and release profiles has been experimentally used to deliver growth factors [31,32], DNA molecules [33,34], RNA molecules [35,36], etc.…”

Chitosan-miRNA Functionalized Microporous Titanium Oxide Surface via A Layer-by-layer Approach with a Sustained Release Profile for Enhanced Osteogenic Activity

“…We know that positively and negatively charged polyelectrolytes can be alternately adsorbed via electrostatic adsorption, called the layer-by-layer (LbL) technology, to fabricate the polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) film [27,28]. PEM with controlled loading and release profile has been experimentally used to deliver growth factors [29,30], DNA molecules [31,32], RNA molecules [33,34], etc. Here it is proposed that CS-antimiR-138 NPs and hyaluronic acid (HA, a commonly used polyanion in LbL) can be used to PEM-functionalize the Ti bone implant for sustainable antimiR-138 delivery and consequently augmented osseointegration.…”