Efficient Delivery of dsRNA and DNA in Cultured Silkworm Cells for Gene Function Analysis Using PAMAM Dendrimers...

: Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers are emerging as intriguing nanovectors for nucleic acid delivery because of their unique well-defined architecture and high binding capacity, which have been broadly applied in DNA- and RNA-based therapeutics. The low-cost and high-efficiency of PAMAM dendrimers relative to traditional liposomal transfection reagents also promote their application in gene function analysis. In this study, we first investigated the potential use of a PAMAM system in the silkworm model insect. We determined the binding property of G5-PAMAM using dsRNA and DNA in vitro, and substantially achieved the delivery of dsRNA and DNA from culture medium to both silkworm BmN and BmE cells, thus leading to efficient knockdown and expression of target genes. Under treatments with different concentrations of G5-PAMAM, we evaluated its cellular cytotoxicity on silkworm cells, and the results show that G5-PAMAM had no obvious toxicity to cells. The presence of serum in the culture medium did not affect the delivery performance of DNA and dsRNA by G5-PAMAM, revealing its convenient use for various purposes. In conclusion, our data demonstrate that the PAMAM system provides a promising strategy for delivering dsRNA and DNA in cultured silkworm cells and promote its further application in individuals.