Mesoporous silica nanoparticles with controlled loading of cationic dendrimer for gene delivery

In this work, a series of polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer-functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with predictable and adjustable cationic charge densities for gene delivery were designed, synthesized and characterized. The ‘clickable’ MSNs with controlled and randomly distributed azide groups were synthesized by co-condensation method, and PAMAM dendrimer was conjugated to MSNs via quantitative click modification. The structures of PAMAM-functionalized MSNs were characterized by FTIR, XRD and TEM analyses. Dendrimer-functionalized MSNs formed complexes with plasmid DNA (pDNA), and the complexes were successfully transfected into human kidney cell 293 T. The in vitro cytotoxicity and gene transfection efficacy were also investigated.