Preparation, characterization, and in vitro cytotoxicity study of cationic PCL-pluronic-PCL (PCFC) nanoparticles for gene delivery.

In this article, poly(epsilon-caprolactone)-pluronic-poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCFC) copolymer was synthesized by ring-opening polymerization and characterized by 1H-NMR and GPC. Cationic PCFC nanoparticles were prepared at one-step by modified emulsion solvent evaporation method using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as the stabilizer. The cytotoxicity of PCFC nanoparticles was studied here with and without serum. The obtained cationic PCFC nanoparticles were employed to condense and adsorb DNA onto its surface. And it could protect plasmid GFP (pGFP) from enzymatic degradation and acidic degradation in a certain period. Release behavior of pGFP from the pGFP/PCFC nanoparticles complex was also studied in vitro. The obtained cationic PCEC nanoparticles might have great potential application in DNA delivery.