ZB 10 - Soft Condensed Matter (R. Holyst)

Formation and structure of PEI/DNA complexes: quantitative analysis

Author(s): Hou, Sen and Ziebacz, Natalia and Wieczorek, Stefan A. and Kalwarczyk, and Sashuk, Volodymyr and Kalwarczyk, Tomasz and Kaminski, Tomasz S. and Holyst, Robert
Title: Formation and structure of PEI/DNA complexes: quantitative analysis
Abstract: Controlled formation of gene delivery complexes (DNA and a vector, a cationic polymer) is one of the key challenges in developing gene delivery systems. The researchers focused their on the ratio of vector to DNA, neglecting the influence of on the complex formation process. In this study we show, studying the association of polyethylenimine (PEI) and 66-base pair DNA fragments, that the concentration of the gene delivery system influences the formation of PEI/DNA complexes even at a fixed ratio. We find that the charge and the size of PEI/DNA complexes increasing functions of their concentration even in a highly dilute of concentrations. The number of PEI/DNA molecules in a complex calculated from the measured charge and electrophoretic mobility. We a model, on the basis of Smoluchowski theory, to explain the between the concentration and the size of PEI/DNA complexes. We the structure of the complexes and found out that a large of space in the PEI/DNA complexes is occupied by the solvent. study indicates that the influence of concentration should be considered in gene delivery studies, since large PEI/DNA can be prepared by scaling up their concentration simultaneously without increasing the dosage of PEI.
Pages: 6967-6972
Journal: SOFT MATTER
Volume: 7
ID: ISI:000292976800030
Year: 2011
DOI: 10.1039/c1sm05449j