Synthesis of Nanocomposites based on Mesoporous Aluminosilicate and Polyethyleneimine (PEI) for siRNA Delivery: Potential Usefulness of the Synergistic Effect of Al3+ Ion and PEI on the siRNA Delivery Efficiency for Diseases Treatment

Author(s): Badihi R, Mahmoudi A, Sazegar MR, Nazari K

Several nanocomposites based on Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles (MSN), aluminum ions, and Polyethyleneimine (PEI) were synthesized by the combination of the sol-gel and post-synthesis methods. These nanocomposites were mainly composed of MSN with the leading of Al and PEI species alone or in combination. The Al-MSN, MSN-PEI, and Al-MSN/PEI samples were characterized by using FT-IR, XRD, SEM, EDX, zeta potential, and nitrogen physisorption techniques. The potential of their RNA delivery was investigated by loading and releasing the siRNA in the phosphate buffer. The obtained results showed that the loading capacity of each sample is directly related to its zeta potential. The Al-MSN/PEI sample showed the highest siRNA adsorption capacity due to possessing the highest zeta potential resulted in the presence of the high electric charge of Al3+ and the cationic nature of PEI. Under the optimized conditions, the Al-MSN/PEI sample showed the amount of 47.19 µg adsorption of siRNA for 1.0 mg of Al-MSN/PEI. The results of releasing siRNA exhibited the yields of 12, 20.4, 29.6, and 36.0 % for MSN, MSN-PEI, Al-MSN, and Al-MSN/PEI, respectively at room temperature for 120 min.