Novel cationic SLN containing a synthesized single-tailed lipid as a modifier for gene delivery

Cationic solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) can bind DNA directly via ionic interaction and mediate in vitro gene transfection. However, toxicity is still an obstacle, which is strongly dependent on the cationic lipid used. In the present study, a novel single-tailed cationic lipid, 6-lauroxyhexyl lysinate (LHLN), was synthesized and used as a modifier to prepare stable SLN-DNA complexes by a nanoprecipitation method. The commonly used cationic lipid cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) modified SLN-DNA formulation served as a contrast. These two formulations were characterized and compared in terms of morphology, particle size, surface charge, DNA binding capacity, release profile, cytotoxicity, and transfection efficiency. The LHLN SLN-DNA complexes had a similar spherical morphology, a relatively narrow particle size distribution and a more remarkable DNA loading capability compared to the CTAB ones. Most importantly, LHLN modified SLN had a higher gene transfection efficiency than the naked DNA and CTAB ones, which was approximately equal to that of Lipofectamine-DNA complexes, and a lower cytotoxicity compared with CTAB-SLN and Lipofectamine 2000. Thus, the novel cationic SLN can achieve efficient transfection of plasmid DNA, and to some extent reduce the cytotoxicity, which might overcome some drawbacks of the conventional cationic nanocarriers in vivo and may become a promising non-viral gene therapy vector.