PEI grafted hyperbranched polymers with polyglycerol as a core for gene delivery

Hyperbranched polymers, PG6-PE125k and PG6-PE1800, were synthesized through grafting branched polyethylenimines (PEIs) with molecular weights of 25 kDa and 800 Da to a polyglycerol core (PG6), respectively. The Structure of the polymers was characterized by H-1 NMR and FTIR. Through agarose gel electrophoresiS retardation assay, PG6-PE125k and PG6-PE1800 were demonstrated to have capability for DNA binding. PG6-PEI/DNA complexes with different weight ratios were characterized by TEM and particle size analysis. The activity of PG6-PEIs to mediate transfection of reporter plasmids pEGFP-C1 and pGL3-Luc was evaluated on 293T and HeLa cell lines. PG6-PEI25k and PG6-PEI800 showed enhanced levels in transgene expression and decreased cytotoxicities as compared with PE125k and PE1800, respectively. The results indicated potential applications of PG6-PEIs for efficient gene delivery. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.