A facile strategy to functionalize gold nanorods with polycation brushes for biomedical applications

Peng Yan; Nana Zhao; Hao Hu; Xinyi Lin; Fusheng Liu; Fu-Jian Xu

doi:10.1016/j.actbio.2014.05.002

A facile strategy to functionalize gold nanorods with polycation brushes for biomedical applications

Acta Biomater. 2014 Aug;10(8):3786-94. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2014.05.002. Epub 2014 May 9.

Authors

Peng Yan¹, Nana Zhao², Hao Hu¹, Xinyi Lin¹, Fusheng Liu³, Fu-Jian Xu⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers (Beijing University of Chemical Technology), Ministry of Education, Beijing Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, College of Materials Science & Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, People's Republic of China.
² State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers (Beijing University of Chemical Technology), Ministry of Education, Beijing Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, College of Materials Science & Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ Brain Tumor Research Center, Beijing Neurosurgical Institute, Beijing Tiantan Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, People's Republic of China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers (Beijing University of Chemical Technology), Ministry of Education, Beijing Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, College of Materials Science & Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 24814878
DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2014.05.002

Abstract

The fabrication of highly efficient nonviral gene carriers with low cytotoxicity remains a challenge in gene therapy. This paper reports a facile strategy to combine the advantages of gold nanorods (Au NRs) and polycations through surface functionalization. Different Au NR carriers with a controlled amount of poly(2-(N,N-dimethyl amino)ethyl methacrylate) (PDAEMA) brushes could be readily synthesized via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization to achieve optimized nanohybrids for gene transfection. The obtained gene carriers demonstrate much higher gene transfection efficiency and lower cytotoxicity compared with polyethylenimine (∼25kDa, gold standard of nonviral gene vector) in both COS7 and HepG2 cell lines. In addition, the potential of the PDMAEMA-grafted Au NR carriers to be utilized as a computed tomography contrast agent for the imaging of cancer cells has also been investigated. This strategy may realize the gene therapy and real-time imaging within one nanostructure and facilitate biomedical applications.

Keywords: ATRP; CT imaging; Gene carriers; Gold nanorods; Polycation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cations
Crystallization / methods
Gold / chemistry*
Materials Testing
Metal Nanoparticles / chemistry
Metal Nanoparticles / ultrastructure
Nanocapsules / chemistry*
Nanocapsules / ultrastructure*
Nanotubes / chemistry*
Nanotubes / ultrastructure*
Particle Size
Surface Properties

Substances

Cations
Nanocapsules
Gold