Preparation and characterization of oligochitosan–tragacanth nanoparticles as a novel gene carrier

The nanoparticles of oligochitosan–water soluble tragacanth (OCH–WST) as novel gene carriers have been prepared and their transfection efficiency has been investigated on Hela and HepG2 cell lines. Different OCH:WST weight ratios were prepared to obtain particles with low size distribution and high surface charge, and also in range of below 200 nm. Nanoparticles with 132.5 ± 6.77 nm size, polydispersity index 1.92 ± 0.061, surface charge 30.45 ± 1.84 and spherical morphology, have been chosen as gene carrier. Nanoparticle–DNA complexes (nanoplexes) showed better transfection efficiency in both Hela and HepG2 cells than chitosan polyplexes, with 1.26 × 106 versus 9.05 × 105 and 7.76 × 105 versus 2.16 × 105, respectively. Higher transfection efficiency of nanoplexes could be attributed to their weaker complexation. Decreasing of transfection in presence of galactose in HepG2 cells, indicated receptor mediated endocytosis of nanoplexes. These properties all together, make OCH–WST nanoparticles as potential gene carrier for active gene delivery into cells containing sugar receptors.