Diblock copolymer hydrophobicity facilitates efficient gene silencing and cytocompatible nanoparticle-mediated siRNA delivery to musculoskeletal cell types.

Diblock copolymer hydrophobicity facilitates efficient gene silencing and cytocompatible nanoparticle-mediated siRNA delivery to musculoskeletal cell types. Biomacromolecules. 2017 Sep 29;: Authors: Malcolm DW, Freeberg MAT, Wang Y, Sims KR, Awad HA, Benoit DSW Abstract pH-responsive diblock copolymers provide tailorable nanoparticle (NP) architecture and chemistry critical for siRNA delivery. Here, diblock polymers varying in first (corona) and second (core) block molecular weight (Mn), Corona:Core ratio and core hydrophobicity (%BMA) were synthesized to determine their effect on siRNA delivery in murine tenocytes (mTenocyte) and murine and human mesenchymal stem cells (mMSC and hMSCs, respectively). NP-mediated siRNA uptake, gene silencing, and cytocompatibility were quantified. Uptake is positively correlated with first block Mn in mTenocytes and hMSCs (p≤0.0005). All NP resulted in significant gene silencing that was positively correlated with %BMA (p<0.05) in all cell types. Cytocompatibility was reduced in mTenocytes compared to MSCs (p<0.0001). %BMA was positively correlated with cytocompatibility in MSCs (p<0.05), suggesting stable NP are more cytocompatible. Overall, this study shows that NP-siRNA cytocompatibility is cell type dependent, and hydrophobicity (%BMA) is the critical diblock copolymer property for efficient gene silencing in musculoskeletal cell types. PMID: 28960967 [PubMed - as supplied by p...
Source: Biomacromolecules - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Tags: Biomacromolecules Source Type: research