Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) were functionalized with aminopropyltriethoxysilane (MSN-NH2) then L-histidine (MSN-His) for pDNA delivery in cells and in vivo. The complexation of pDNA with MSN-NH2 and MSN-His was first studied with gel shift assay. pDNA complexed with MSN-His was better protected from DNase degradation than with MSN-NH2. An improvement of the transfection efficiency in cells was observed with MSN-His/pDNA compared to MSN-NH2/pDNA, which could be explained by a better internalization of MSN-His. The improvement of the transfection efficiency with MSN-His was also observed for gene transfer in Achilles tendons in vivo.
Keywords: Histidine; Mesoporous silica nanoparticles; Nucleic acid delivery; Transfection in vivo.
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