Polymeric micelle prepared through the self-assembly of cationic cholesterol-modified gelatin was tested for siRNA delivery. It exerted the desired effect of gene knockdown in HeLa cells stably expressing the luciferase gene and achieved a two-fold increase in the knockdown ability when compared to Lipofectamine® 2000. It was found that the polymeric micelle exhibited excellent stability and in...

The aim of the present study was to employ RNA interference (RNAi) technology to construct and select shRNA-Nanog recombinant plasmids for the inhibition of Nanog gene expression and transfer these plasmids into the human gastric cancer cell line, SGC-7901, as well as to detect the expression of Nanog and the effects on the proliferation, migration, invasion, cell cycle and apoptosis of SGC-790...

Tricyclo (tc)-DNA belongs to the class of conformationally constrained DNA analogs that show enhanced binding properties to DNA and RNA. We prepared tc-oligonucleotides up to 17 nt in length, and evaluated their binding efficiency and selectivity towards complementary RNA, their biological stability in serum, their RNase H inducing potential and their antisense activity in a cellular assay. Rel...

A crucial bottleneck in RNA interference-based gene therapy is the lack of safe and efficient delivery systems. Here, a novel small interfering RNA (siRNA) delivery peptide, STR-HK, was constructed by conjugating a stearyl end to the N-terminus of the peptide sequence HHHPKPKRKV, where PKPKRKV is an altered sequence of the nucleus localization signal (PKKKRKV) and contributes to the cytosol loc...

The success of nonviral transfection using polymers hinges on efficient nuclear uptake of nucleic acid cargo and overcoming intra- and extracellular barriers. By incorporating PKKKRKV heptapeptide pendent groups as nuclear localization signals (NLS) on a polymer backbone, we demonstrate protein expression levels higher than those obtained from JetPEI and Lipofectamine 2000, the latter being not...

UNLABELLED The development of controlled-release nanoparticle (NP) technologies has great potential to further improve the therapeutic efficacy of RNA interference (RNAi), by prolonging the release of small interfering RNA (siRNA) for sustained, long-term gene silencing. Herein, we present an NP platform with sustained siRNA-release properties, which can be self-assembled using biodegradable an...

Recently, there has been success in applying a semi-rational approach to non-viral gene delivery vector development using a combinatorial/parallel synthesis approach to construct libraries of materials with unique molecular structures. In this approach, it is hoped that the random incorporation of various hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains in the library will yield candidates with the appropri...

We are describing a quick method to dissociate and culture hippocampal or cortical neurons from E15-17 rat embryos. The procedure can be applied successfully to the isolation of mouse and human primary neurons and neural progenitors. Dissociated neurons are maintained in serum-free medium up to several weeks. These cultures can be used for nucleofection, immunocytochemistry, nucleic acids prepa...