In vitro cytotoxic activity and transfection efficiency of polyethyleneimine functionalized gold nanoparticles.

In this study, we report on the synthesis of polyethyleneimine (PEI) coated gold nanoparticles for potential application as non-viral gene carriers. In the presence of the electrolyte, sodium citrate, the electrophoretic mobility confirmed the electroneutral nature of the nanocomplex. MTT cell viability assays showed that the Au-PEI/pDNA complexes maintained over 60% cell viability across the four cell lines tested. Transfection studies were accomplished using the luciferase reporter gene assay. Results showed that the FAuNPs produced greater transgene activity than the cationic polymer/DNA complexes on their own. This was evident for the Au-PEI/pDNA complex which produced a 12 fold increase in the HEK293 cells and a 9 fold increase in the HepG2 cells, compared to the PEI/pDNA complexes.