Cationic β-Cyclodextrin-Chitosan Conjugates as Potential Carrier for pmCherry-C1 Gene Delivery

In this study cationic β-cyclodextrin-chitosan-mediated nanoparticles were used to transfer pmCherry-C1 into glioblastoma cells and their transfection efficiency were compared to lipofectamine and electroporation. Physicochemical characteristics of nanoparticles were evaluated by photon correlation spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Electrophoretic nuclease resistance and stability assays were used to check the protection of DNA from nucleases digestion. mCherry reporter construct was used for visualization, followed by quantitation of cell survival and gene expression by fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis and fluorescence microscopy. Particle size was approximately 200 nm and did not change at 4 °C even after 12 weeks. Importantly, the positively charged complexes interacted with DNA could serve as an efficient DNA delivery systems. Most of the gene was associated with the nanoparticles and was efficiently protected from DNAse I digestion. More than 80 % of transfected cells expressed mCherry efficiently.