Size-dependent efficiency of gold nanoparticles as non-viral vectors for gene delivery

摘要

Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) are promising vectors for gene delivery applications. In this work, Au NPs were combined to poly(ethylenimine) (PEI) to prepare two different PEI capped Au NPs (Au-PEI NPs) having particle-size distributions centered at about 10 or 100 nm, respectively. PEI incorporation into Au NPs provides a positive surface charge to allow electrostatic bonding of DNA. We explored the ability of these different-sized Au-PEI NPs to transfect different types of plasmids into human osteoblastic Saos-2 cell lines.