Yue Li, Yan Lin, Chun Liufu, Jiawei Tu, Chaopin Yang and ZhiYi Chen* Pages 383 - 391 ( 9 )
Objective: To study transfection efficiency of folate-modified chitosan (FACS) nanoparticles as a non-viral vector delivering pEGFP-C3plasmid (FA-CS/P) to 293T cells with or without the combination of ultrasound and microbubble. </P><P> Method: pEGFP-C3 was used as a reporter gene and FA-CS nanoparticles, which were prepared by complex coagulation method, were used as biological carriers. Transfection efficiency to 293T cells mediated by FA-CS/P nanoparticles, ultrasound (US) and microbubble (MB) was assessed by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. </P><P> Result: FA-CS/P nanoparticles have a particle size of 355.1 nm and zeta potential of 10.4 mV. Significant green fluorescence could be observed in CS/P group, FA-CS/P group, US+MB/P group, US+FA-CS/P group, Liposome 2000 (L) group under an inverted fluorescence microscope, while for US+MB+FA-CS/P group, only scattered fluorescence was observed. Result of flow cytometry showed that the transfection rate of US+MB+FA-CS/P group was (2.0±0.2)%, which was significantly lower than other groups (P<0.05). CCK-8 experiments showed that cell vitality of US+MB+FA-CS/P was (64.1±4.6)%, which was also lower than other groups (P<0.05). </P><P> Conclusion: In this study, FA-CS was successfully synthesized. FA-CS could combine with pEGFP-C3 effectively forming nanoparticles with nanoparticle size, well dispersion, high encapsulation efficiency and no significant toxicity to cells. The application of ultrasound increased the transfection rate of FA-CS/P. However, while being exposed to ultrasound and microbubble, the transfection rate of FA-CS/P decreased obviously, may indicate that there was no synergistic effect for gene transfection by the combination of ultrasound, folate modified chitosan and microbubbles.
Chitosan, ultrasound, gene therapy, folate, target, nanoparticles.
Department of Ultrasound Medicine, Laboratory of Ultrasound Molecular Imaging, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, The Liwan Hospital of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Department of Ultrasound Medicine, Laboratory of Ultrasound Molecular Imaging, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, The Liwan Hospital of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Department of Ultrasound Medicine, Laboratory of Ultrasound Molecular Imaging, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, The Liwan Hospital of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Department of Ultrasound Medicine, Laboratory of Ultrasound Molecular Imaging, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, The Liwan Hospital of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Department of Ultrasound Medicine, Laboratory of Ultrasound Molecular Imaging, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, The Liwan Hospital of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Department of Ultrasound Medicine, Laboratory of Ultrasound Molecular Imaging, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, The Liwan Hospital of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou