Aminoglycoside Enhances the Delivery of Antisense Morpholino Oligonucleotides In Vitro and in mdx Mice

Figures

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  Figure 1. Chemical Structures, Names, and Code Numbers of AGs

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  Figure 2. Viability of C2C12E50 Myoblasts after Treatment with AGs at 3 Doses (5, 20, and 100 μg/mL; Endoporter as a Control), Determined by MTS Assay Cells were seeded in 96-well plate at an initial density of 1 × 104 cells/well in 0.2 mL growth medium. The results are presented as the mean ± SD in triplicate (one-way ANOVA, no significant difference between AG groups; Student’s t test, *p ≤ 0.05 compared with untreated cells).

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  Figure 3. Delivery Efficiency and Toxicity of AG/PMOE50 Complexes in the C2C12E50 Cell Line, Determined by Fluorescence Microscopy and FACS Analysis (A) Representative fluorescence images of PMO-induced reporter GFP expression with exon 50 skipping in the C2C12E50 cell line. The images were taken after 3-day treatment (original magnification, ×200; scale bar, 200 μm). (B) Transfection efficiency of PMOs formulated with AGs (one-way ANOVA, #p ≤ 0.05, a significant difference between AG groups; Student’s t test, *p ≤ 0.05 compared with PMO only). (C) Cell viability (one-way ANOVA, no significant difference between AG groups; Student’s t test, *p ≤ 0.05 compared with untreated cells as a control). In this test, 5 μg PMOE50 was formulated with AGs (10, 20, and 50 μg), and Endoporter (5 μg) was formulated as a control in 0.5 mL 10% FBS-DMEM. The results are presented as the mean ± SD in triplicate.

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  Figure 4. GFP Expression Induced by PMOE23 (5 μg) Formulated with AGs (10, 20, and 50 μg) in C2C12E23 Cells and Endoporter (5 μg) as a Positive Control in 0.5 mL 10% FBS-DMEM after 6-Day Treatment Original magnification, ×200; scale bar, 200 μm.

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  Figure 5. Restoration of Dystrophin in TA Muscles of mdx Mice 4–5 Weeks of Age 2 Weeks after i.m. Injection The samples were from muscles treated with 50 μg AG and 2 μg PMOE23 in 40 μL saline; PMOE23-only (2 μg) treatment was used as a controls. (A) Dystrophin was detected by immunohistochemistry with the rabbit polyclonal antibody P7 against dystrophin. Blue nuclear staining with DAPI (original magnification, ×100; scale bar, 200 μm). (B) The percentage of dystrophin-positive fibers in muscles treated with AG-formulated PMOE23. The numbers of dystrophin-positive fibers were counted in a single cross-section (one-way ANOVA, #p ≤ 0.05, a significant difference between AG groups; mean ± SD, n = 5, Student’s t test, *p ≤ 0.05 compared with 2 μg PMO). (C) Detection of exon 23 skipping by RT-PCR. Total RNA of 100 ng from each sample was used for amplification of dystrophin mRNA from exon 20 to exon 26. The upper bands (1,093 bp, indicated by E22+E23+E24) correspond to the normal mRNA, and the lower bands (880 bp, indicated by E22+E24) correspond to the mRNA with exon E23 skipped. (D) Western blots demonstrating the expression of dystrophin protein from treated mdx mice in comparison with…

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  Figure 6. Dystrophin Expression in Different Muscles of mdx Mice 4–5 Weeks of Age 2 Weeks after Systemic Administration of PMO with AGs Each mouse was injected with 1 mg PMOE23 with and without AG (0.5 mg). (A) Immunohistochemistry with the antibody P7 for detection of dystrophin (original magnification, ×100; scale bar, 200 μm). (B) Percentage of dystrophin-positive fibers in different muscle tissues (mean ± SD, n = 5, Student’s t test, *p ≤ 0.05 compared with 1 mg PMO).

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  Figure 7. Microscopy Images of PMO-Treated C2C12 Cells with and without AG7 24 h after Delivery PMO (green), lysosomes (red), and nuclei (blue) stained with FITC-labeled PMO, LysoTracker red, and Hoechst 33342, respectively.

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  Figure 8. Affinity Study between AGs and PMO (A) UV-Vis spectra of AG7-formulated PMO at different weight ratios (5:5, 10:5, 20:5, and 50:5) and AG7 and PMO only. (B) UV-Vis spectra of AG-formulated PMO at a weight ratio of 20:5 (1.5-μL sample of deionized [DI] water solution measured at room temperature). (C) Negatively stained transmission electron micrographs (scale bar, 50 nm) of AG-formulated PMO (1 μg) at different weight ratios in 100 μL 0.9% saline.