Mehri Karimi Jabali, Ali Reza Allafchian, Seyed Amir Hossein Jalali,
Hamideh Shakeripour, Rezvan Mohammadinezhad, Fahime Rahmani

Department of Physics, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156–83111, Iran
Research Institute for Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156–83111, Iran
Department of Natural Resources, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156–83111, Iran
Research Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156–83111, Iran

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2021.127743

Abstract:

Hypothesis: Among various approaches of gene delivery, there is a growing interest in oral administration of
plasmid DNA (pDNA) as one of the safest and most straightforward vaccination methods. Inclusion of chitosan is
expected to prevent pDNA degradation in gastric environments and contribute to releasing it in target intestinal
fluids.
Experiments: In this paper, ascorbic acid-modified chitosan is used as a biomolecular coating on superparamagnetic
iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) to serve as a pDNA nanocarrier. The nanoparticles are studied by
FE-SEM, DLS, zeta potential, FT-IR spectroscopy, XRD, and VSM. The pDNA release in a simulated intestinal
environment is measured by agarose gel electrophoresis. The cytotoxicity of the nanoparticles is evaluated by
MTT assay using epithelial Vero and EPC cells.
Findings: Results show that the nanocarriers are formed spherically with a mean hydrodynamic diameter of 100
nm and zeta potential of + 25 mV. The nanocarrier gastric stability is confirmed by treating with DNase I test.
The results show that the pDNA release is promising and amounts to 45% after 48 h. MTT assay results show that
the SPION@CsVC nanocarriers are biocompatible to Vero and EPC cell lines. It is found that chitosan can
effectively shield the pDNA in the extremely acidic gastric environment, yet allows it to be released when passing
through the target alkaline intestinal tissue. In other words, chitosan is presented as an effective biopolymer for
application in non-viral vectors for gene delivery through a facile oral route.