Acta Pharm. 62 (2012) 83-92

 

full paper

Original research paper

 

Stability studies of chitosan-DNA-FAP-B nanoparticles for gene delivery to lung epithelial cells

ZOHREH MOHAMMADI, FARID ABEDIN DORKOOSH, SAMAN HOSSEINKHANI, TINA AMINI, AMIR ABBAS RAHIMI, ABDOLHOSSEIN ROUHOLAMINI NAJAFABADI and MORTEZA RAFIEE TEHRANI

rafitehr@ams.ac.ir

1 Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

2 Nanobiotechnology Research Center, Avicenna Research Institute, ACECR, Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

4 Nobleceuticals Ltd, Birmingham, United Kingdom

5 Nanobiotechnology Department, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran

Accepted January 16, 2012

 

A successful gene delivery system requires efficiency and stability during storage. Stability studies are imperative for nanomedicines containing biotechnological products such as plasmids and targeting peptides. Chitosan-DNA-FAP-B nanoparticles are novel non-viral vectors for specific gene delivery to the lung epithelial cells. In this study, the storage stability of chitosan-DNA-FAP-B nanoparticles at –20, 5 and 24 ºC was examined. Size, zeta potential and transfection efficiency of these nanoparticles in storage were also evaluated. Stability studies showed that chitosan-DNA-FAP-B nanoparticles were stable after 1 month when stored at –20 °C and retained their initial size, zeta potential and transfection efficiency. However, their stability was not desirable at 5 and 24 ºC. Based on these results, it can be concluded that chitosan-DNA-FAP-B nanoparticles can be a promising candidate for gene delivery to lung epithelial cells with good storage stability at –20 ºC during 1 month.

 

Keywords: chitosan, FAP-B, nanoparticle, stability, gene delivery