Carbosilane dendrimers NN8 and NN16 form a stable complex with siGAG1

A new mechanism of gene expression inhibition has been discovered as RNA interference, in which the ability of double-stranded RNA to stimulate specific degradation of an mRNA target with a complementary sequence to one of the double-stranded RNA strands. Water-soluble carbosilane dendrimers containing ammonium or amine groups at their periphery are biocompatible molecules that may be good candidates as non-viral carriers of small interfering RNA. In studying the formation of complex between anti-HIV siRNA siGAG1 and carbosilane dendrimers NN8 and NN16 by circular dichroism, fluorescence, and zeta-potential, the size of nanoparticles formed has been estimated by dynamic light scattering. At a charge ratio of 1:3–4 (siGAG1:dendrimer), the dendriplexes formed were in the size range of 250–350 nm.