Quantitative Measurement of Cationic Polymer Vector and Polymer-pDNA Polyplex Intercalation into the Cell Plasma Membrane.

ABSTRACT: Cationic gene delivery agents (vectors) are important for delivering nucleotides, but are also responsible for cytotoxicity. Cationic polymers (L-PEI, jetPEI, and G5 PAMAM) at 1× to 100× the concentrations required for translational activity (protein expression) induced the same increase in plasma membrane current of HEK 293A cells (30-50 nA) as measured by whole cell patch-clamp. This indicates saturation of the cell membrane by the cationic polymers. The increased currents induced by the polymers are not reversible for over 15 min. Irreversibility on this time scale is consistent with a polymer-supported pore or carpet model and indicates that the cell is unable to clear the polymer from the membrane. For polyplexes, although the charge concentration was the same (at N/P ratio of 10:1),

SUBMITTER: Vaidyanathan S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4771022 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature