Abstract
Cationic lipids have been used in the development of non-viral gene delivery systems as lipoplexes. Stearylamine, a cationic lipid that presents a primary amine group when in solution, is able to compact genetic material by electrostatic interactions. In dispersed systems such as nanoemulsions this lipid anchors on the oil/water interface confering a positive charge to them. The aim of this work was to evaluate factors that influence DNA compaction in cationic nanoemulsions containing stearylamine. The influence of the stearylamine incorporation phase (water or oil), time of complexation, and different incubation temperatures were studied. The complexation rate was assessed by electrophoresis migration on agarose gel 0.7%, and nanoemulsion and lipoplex characterization was done by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). The results demonstrate that the best DNA compaction process occurs after 120 min of complexation, at low temperature (4 ± 1 °C), and after incorporation of the cationic lipid into the aqueous phase. Although the zeta potential of lipoplexes was lower than the results found for basic nanoemulsions, the granulometry did not change. Moreover, it was demonstrated that lipoplexes are suitable vehicles for gene delivery.
Highlights
Medicine is entering a new era of treatments in which doctors will be able to treat symptoms, and the cause of genetic diseases [1]
Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) analysis of Cationic Lipid Nanoemulsions (CLNs) and lipoplexes ensured that the produced systems were at nanoscale dimensions (Table 3)
It should be emphasized that this size is given as a purpose of comparison with the CLN size
Summary
Medicine is entering a new era of treatments in which doctors will be able to treat symptoms, and the cause of genetic diseases [1]. Genes influence various human diseases in general by coding abnormal proteins that are responsible for the disease or determining susceptibility to environmental agents that induce them. Recent advances in human genomics and gene delivery systems have made it possible to cure genetic or acquired diseases using gene therapy through the direct modulation of gene expression [4,6–. In this way, gene delivery works where defective genes need to be replaced or pathogenic gene expression needs to be inhibited [9,11]. Entirely new functions can be added to cells by gene transfer [12], thereby repairing the origin of the disease [6]
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