Preparation of Cationic Polydiacetylene Nanovesicles for In Vitro Gene Delivery

Abstract

Here, we report novel cationic polydiacetylene-containing nanovesicle system and its application to gene delivery in vitro. The nanovesicle was constructed using a cationic diacetylene monomer lipid (DADMDPA-bis-PCDA) which contains a quaternary ammonium head group. The cationic character of this monomer leads to the electrostatic interaction with genetic materials such as plasmid DNA forming complexes and the diacetylene groups on its hydrophobic moiety provides the further polymerization functionality upon UV irradiation forming polydiacetylene-linkages within the nanovesicle. In the present study, the characteristics of nanovesicle/DNA interaction, and the transfection efficiency and cytotoxicity for the human embryonic kidney cells were characterized and compared between the nonpolymerized and polymerized nanovesicles.

Tuning the Surface Charge of Self-Assembled Polydiacetylene Vesicles to Control Aggregation and Cell Binding

“…This effect has been widely examined across different pH sensitive moieties and charge groups for the purpose of optimizing gene transfection, and among them cationic polydiacetylene micelles have also proven to be an effective transfection reagent [ 19 ]. Such studies have suggested photopolymerization of cationic polydiacetylene vesicles to enhance transfection efficiency and provide some reduction in cytotoxicity, while others utilizing quaternary ammonium head groups have shown no beneficial effect of polymerization on the viability of HEK293 cells but did show an improvement in gene transfection for photopolymerized vesicles [ 20 ]. Mixtures of cationic polydiacetylene and phospholipids have also shown high rates of vesicle internalization in an example using the breast carcinoma cell line Bcap-37 [ 21 ].…”

Photo and pH dual-responsive polydiacetylene smart nanocontainer

“…Once polymerized, the vesicles could maintain their shapes for an extended time period, and decrease the vesicleevesicle and vesicleecell fusion [15]. Because of its nontoxicity, PDA vesicles have been also employed in the development of ingestible formulations [16] and gene carriers [17]. And as one of the environmentally responsive polymer materials, PDA vesicles can adopt conjugated structure distortion and color changes in response to a variety of external stimuli, such as pH [18], organic solvent [19], temperature [20], mechanical stress [21].…”

Cationic Polydiacetylene Micelles for Gene Delivery

“…17 The potential application range from biosensors, 18,19 nonlinear optical devices 20 through to drug delivery. 21,22 It has been shown that diacetylene formulations 23 or polymerized liposomes 24 can deliver genes, but to the author's knowledge, few studies have been conducted on micelles.…”