Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) functionalized with dendritic ligands provide a scaffold for effective small interfering RNA (siRNA) delivery. AuNPs were capped with different generations of dendritic ligands via Murray place-exchange reaction, resulting G0-AuNP  , G1-AuNP  and G2-AuNP  . These dendronized ligands feature biodegradable glutamic acid scaffolds and cationic moieties that interact electrostatically with negatively charged siRNA. Higher generation of dendronized AuNPs, G2-AuNP  , presented higher loading efficiency of siRNA and generated stable self-assembled nanoplexes at NP/siRNA ratio of 2. To investigate the siRNA delivery efficiency of G2-AuNP  , siRNA mediated knockdown of beta-galactosidase (beta-gal) expression was studied in SVR-bag4 cells. The result indicated the G2-AuNP  down-regulated beta-gal expression by ~50% with minimal toxicity. Dendronized AuNPs possess the benefits of polymeric delivery vehicles while minimizing toxicity through use of non-toxic core functionality.

Dendronized gold nanoparticles for siRNA delivery

244th National Meeting (2012)

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