Issue 62, 2015

Dendron conjugation to graphene oxide using click chemistry for efficient gene delivery

Abstract

Owing to its large surface area and rapid cellular uptake, graphene oxide (GO) is emerging as an attractive candidate material for delivery of drugs and genes. The inherent sp2 π–π interaction of GO helps to carry drugs and single stranded RNA (ssRNA) but there is no such interaction with double stranded DNA (dsDNA). In this work, a polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendron was conjugated with nano GO (nGO) through “click” chemistry to improve the DNA complexation capability of GO as well as its transfection efficiency. The DNA complexation capability of GO was significantly enhanced after dendronization of GO yielding spherical nanosized (250–350 nm) particles of the dendronized GO (DGO)/pDNA complex with a positive zeta potential. The transfection efficiency of GO dramatically increased after conjugation of the PAMAM dendron. Transfection efficiency of 51% in HeLa cells with cell viability of 80% was observed. The transfection efficiency was significantly higher than that of polyethyleneimine 25 kDa (27% efficiency) and also surpassed that of lipofectamine 2000 (47% efficiency). The uptake of the DGO/pDNA complex by the caveolae mediated endocytosis pathway may significantly contribute to the high transfection efficiency. Thus, dendronized GO is shown to be an efficient gene carrier with minimal toxicity and is a promising candidate for use as a nonviral carrier for gene therapy.

Graphical abstract: Dendron conjugation to graphene oxide using click chemistry for efficient gene delivery

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Apr 2015
Accepted
01 Jun 2015
First published
01 Jun 2015
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2015,5, 50196-50211

Dendron conjugation to graphene oxide using click chemistry for efficient gene delivery

K. Sarkar, G. Madras and K. Chatterjee, RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 50196 DOI: 10.1039/C5RA07004J

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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