Mannan-Modified PLGA Nanoparticles for Targeted Gene Delivery

The studies of targeted gene delivery nanocarriers have gained increasing attention during the past decades. In this study, mannan modified DNA loaded bioadhesive PLGA nanoparticles (MAN-DNA-NPs) were investigated for targeted gene delivery to the Kupffer cells (KCs). Bioadhesive PLGA nanoparticles were prepared and subsequently bound with pEGFP. Following the coupling of the mannan-based PE-grafted ligands (MAN-PE) with the DNA-NPs, the MAN-DNA-NPs were delivered intravenously to rats. The transfection efficiency was determined from the isolated KCs and flow cytometry was applied for the quantitation of gene expression after 48 h post transfection. The size of the MAN-DNA-NPs was found to be around 190nm and the Zeta potential was determined to be -15.46mV. The pEGFP binding capacity of MAN-DNA-NPs was (88.9 +/- 5.8)% and the in vitro release profiles of the MAN-DNA-NPs follow the Higuchi model. When compared with non-modified DNA-NPs and Lipofectamine 2000-DNA, MAN-DNA-NPs produced the highest gene expressions, especially in vivo. The in vivo data from flow cytometry analysis showed that MAN-DNA-NPs displayed a remarkably higher transfection efficiency (39%) than non-modified DNA-NPs (25%) and Lipofectamine 2000-DNA (23%) in KCs. The results illustrate that MAN-DNA-NPs have the ability to target liver KCs and could function as promising active targeting drug delivery vectors.