Multifunctional nanoparticles for gene delivery and spinal cord injury

作者：Gwak So Jung; Koo Heebeom; Yun Yeomin; Yhee Ji Young; Lee Hye Yeong; Yoon Do Heum; Kim Kwangmeyung; Ha Yoon^*

来源：Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A, 2015, 103(11): 3474-3482.

DOI：10.1002/jbm.a.35489

• methylprednisolone
• chitosan
• spinal cord injury
• gene delivery

Methylprednisolone (MP) is a glucocorticoid that is used as an anti-inflammatory agent to the treat spinal cord injury (SCI). A low molecular weight chitosan was used to synthesize chitosan-MP conjugate, which was used to evaluate the gene therapy, anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic effects of MP. The cytotoxicity of chitosan-MP nanoparticles and the transfection efficiency of plasmid DNA were evaluated by MTT and luciferase assays. A chitosan-MP/pDNA complexes was injected into injured spinal cord to evaluate the anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic effects of these complexes using terminal deoxynucleotide transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) and ED1 staining, respectively. In addition, to evaluate the distribution of chitosan-MP/pDNA complexes, p-gal encapsulated chitosan-MP was injected into the injected site. Cell survival was similar in cells treated with chitosan-MP conjugate and untreated cells. Luciferase expression was higher in cells treated with the chitosan-MP/pDNA than cells treated with the chitosan/pDNA. The chitosan-MP/pDNA complexes also reduced apoptosis and inflammation at the injury site. These results suggest that chitosan-MP conjugation is an effective gene delivery system to treat SCI.

• 出版日期2015-11