Transfection with a Novel Cationic Gene Carrier: Polyethylenimine-Acetic Anhydride

OBJECTIVE To study the influence of copolymer polyethylenimine(PEI)-acetic anhydride(ACA) composition on gene delivery in vitro and observe its potential as a gene carrier.METHODS Size measurement and AFM were used to show the modality of the PEI-ACA/DNA complexes.The cytotoxicity of PEI-ACA and PEI was evaluated by mononuclear cell direct cytotoxicity assay(MTT).In different conditions,using PEI-ACA as the vector,A549 cells were transfected with fluorescent protein(pEGFP-C3) gene and 1ueiferase gene.Expression efficiency of the transduced gene was monitored by fluorescence microscopy and fluorescence assay system.RESULTS PEI-ACA had higher transfection efficiency with lower cytotoxicity than PEI.CONCLUSION PEI-ACA copolymer reduces the cytotoxicity of PEI,improves the transfection efficiency,and offers greater biocompatibility than PEI.It shows considerable potential as an efficient non-viral carrier for gene delivery.