Biodegradable Polymers Grafted onto Multifunctional Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for Gene Delivery

Abstract

Biodegradable polymer possesses significant potential for applications in different fields, since flexibility gives rise to materials with great physical and mechanical property diversity. The poly-caprolactone (PCL) and chitosan derivatives (CS) have the ability to form scaffolds, which adhere to the surface of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) and its porous networks. The novel characteristics of the developed PCL/MSNs and CS/MSNs, such as very low in vivo degradation rate, ordered pore network, uniform and tunable size and shape of the particles, high pore volume and surface area, non-toxicity, and biocompatibility, among others, are responsible for its favorable gene delivery device and makes this conjugation a very good biomaterial for this application. In the present study, we investigated the synthesis of silica nanoparticles MCM-41 covalently grafted with PCL and CS and their use as a potential small interfering RNA (siRNA) carrier. The physical–chemical and morphological characterizations, as well as the applicability of functionalized MSNs as platforms for gene delivery, were assessed. Our results confirmed that MSNs that were successfully functionalized with PCL and CS kept their typical morphology and pore arrangement. Furthermore, their surface modification was successfully held. In vitro biocompatibility and cytotoxicity assays suggest the ability of MSNs to support passive uptake and indicated the potential of this material as a gene delivery system for cervical cancer cells (HeLa).