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Updated: May 28, 2026
Enhanced Gene Delivery and Expression using Intraosseous Injection of Chitosan Nanoparticles Encapsulated Adenine Base Editor Plasmids
Published on: May 16, 2025
Imidazole-grafted chitosan-mediated gene delivery: in vitro study on transfection, intracellular trafficking and
Liliana R Pires1, Hugo Oliveira, Cristina C Barrias
1Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica, Divisão de Biomateriais, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 823, 4150-180 Porto, Portugal.
Aim:
To study the mechanism of transfection mediated by imidazole-grafted chitosan (CHimi) nanoparticles, to propose new strategies to control and improve the expression of a delivered gene in the context of regenerative medicine.
Methods:
Biochemical and microscopy methods were used to establish transfection efficiency and nanoparticle intracellular trafficking. The role of CHimi and degree of N-acetylation (DA) on transfection was explored.
Results:
CHimi was found to promote the expression of a delivered gene during a minimum 7-day period. Additionally, the production of a protein of interest could be upheld by consecutive transfections, without compromising cell viability. Transfection was found to be a time-dependent process, requiring CHimi-DNA complex disassembling. The DA was found to have an impact on transfection kinetics in line with the observation that the rate of lysozyme-mediated nanoparticle degradation increases with the polymer DA.
Conclusion:
The adjustment of the CH degradation rate can be used as a tool for tuning the expression of a gene delivered by CH-based nanoparticle systems.
