Intracellular trafficking and decondensation kinetics of chitosan-pDNA polyplexes.

ABSTRACT: The transfection efficiency (TE) of chitosan-plasmid DNA (pDNA) polyplexes can be critically modulated by the polymer degree of deacetylation (DDA) and molecular weight (MW). This study was performed to test the hypothesis that the TE dependence on chitosan MW and DDA is related to the polyplex stability, hence their intracellular decondensation/unpacking kinetics. Major barriers to nonviral gene transfer were studied by image-based quantification. Although uptake increased with increased DDA, it did not appear to be a structure-dependent process affecting TE, nor was nuclear entry. Colocalization analysis showed that all chitosans trafficked through lysosomes with similar kinetics. Fluorescent resonant energy transfer (FRET) analysis revealed a distinct relationship between TE and polyple

SUBMITTER: Thibault M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2951560 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature