Fabrication and Evaluation of Cationic Charged Magnetic Nanoparticles for Enhanced Gene Delivery

Abstract

nanoparticles (MNPs) under the influence of a magnetic field; gives promising results for gene delivery. However, pharmaceutical and biomedical studies in this area are very limited. To meet this need, we aimed to develop an effective magnetic gene delivery system in this study. The in-situ surface coating method was handled to develop cationic charged MNPs. Three different MNP formulations were obtained and investigated in terms of characterization, DNA binding, protection, and transfection ability. According to the results, the obtained MNPs have particles under 150 nm with a low PDI (<0.3), and positive zeta potential with a spherical shape. The DNA binding and protecting ability from nucleases were shown by agarose gel studies. No significant cytotoxicity was observed on COS-7 cells in the concentration range of 4-20 μL/well. Moreover, transfection studies revealed that the optimal system (GMS-MNP-1) showed significantly higher transfection efficacy comparing the naked plasmid or non-magnetic version of nanoparticle under a magnetic field (p>0.05). Promising results have been obtained with the use of obtained GMS-MNPs in terms of magnetic gene delivery. This work can be extended to in vivo by using disease-specific therapeutic genetic materials.