Combining amphiphilic chitosan and bioglass for mediating cellular osteogenic growth peptide gene

Abstract

The realization of gene therapy significantly depends on effective gene delivery vectors. Bioactive glasses (BG), as osteoinductive bone repair materials have been extensively applied clinically. Although there are numerous studies about the delivery of biomolecules by BG, to date, little study has been done to investigate the impact of BG as an enhancer for polymers/DNA complexes. In our study, we used an MBG with a suitable size to evaluate the influence of CS-PCL-mPEG/pOGP (containing the osteogenic growth peptide and green fluorescent protein fusion gene) on the gene transfection in different types of cell lines. MBG/CS-PCL-mPEG condense and dissociate the pOGP more effectively. These complexes, which are connected by the electrostatic effect, show lower and optimized zeta potential and size below 200 nm. Our study shows that MBG has good cellular biocompatibility and high cell uptake. MBG/CS-PCL-mPEG exhibits enhanced gene transfection efficiency despite the difference between the two cell lines. These results suggest that MBG has an enhanced impact on the polymer gene vectors. Therefore, this strategy may broaden the biomedical application of bioglass in the repair and reconstruction of bone and teeth.