Comparison of nanocarriers for gene delivery and nanosensing using montmorillonite, silver nanoparticles and multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Various types of nanoparticles like montmorillonite, silver nanoparticles stabilized with montmorillonite, starch, citrate, polylysine and multiwalled carbon nanotubes were used for binding with plasmid pcDNA-GFP in order to develop a gene delivery vector. The characterization of the functionalized materials showed a shift in the plasmon resonance to a higher wavelength compared to the control after DNA binding. This revealed the possibility that the DNA can be detected as a change in the absorption probability and/or a change in the resonance wavelength which can be used for diagnostic purposes. Transfection studies of these various functionalized nanopreparations implied that the gene delivery vector based on silver nanoparticles stabilized with starch and montmorillonite were more promising than other gene delivery systems with the potential to revolutionize the area of biosensing, imaging, diagnosis and therapy.