Synthesis of PHB-co-PEI nanoparticles as gene carriers for miR-128-encoding plasmid delivery to U87 glioblastoma cells

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The expression of miR-128 as a tumor suppressor microRNA, significantly down-regulated in glioblastoma cells, offering that increasing this microRNA could decrease the survival of glioblastoma cells. The purpose of this study is the exploration of transfection efficiency of U87 cells with miR-128-encoding plasmid using PHB-co-PEI nanoparticles, and evaluate the effect of this microRNA on the survival of U87 cells. PHB-co-PEI nanoparticles were designed and synthesized by copolymerization of polyhydroxy butyrate (PHB) and polyethylenimine (PEI). The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by using DLS, SEM, FTIR, 1HNMR spectroscopy. The mean diameter of nanoparticles was 84.53 nm having the zeta potential of 5.43 mV. The results showed that PHB-co-PEI with positive charge could efficiently adsorb plasmid DNA and protect it against serum nucleases. The results of MTT assay revealed that PHB-co-PEI remarkably lowered the cytotoxicity on U87 cells compared to PEI alone. The flow cytometry demonstrated that these nanoparticles had no significant effect on the apoptosis and necrosis of U87 cells, while the nanoparticles loaded by miR-128-encoding plasmid led to 24.5 % cell death. The transfection efficiency of PHB-co-PEI nanoparticles was evaluated by fluorescent microscopy and flow cytometry, which exhibited 7.48 % of U87 cells were GFP positive at the weight ratio of 40.