9398
Langmuir 2005, 21, 9398-9401
Inclusion of DNA into Organic Gelator Fibers Made of Amphipathic Molecules and Its Controlled Release Ryouji Karinaga,† Yeonhwan Jeong,† Seiji Shinkai,‡ Kenji Kaneko,‡ and Kazuo Sakurai*,† Department of Chemical Processes & Environments, The University of Kitakyushu, 1-1, Hibikino, Wakamatsu-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, 808-0135, Japan, and Faculty of Engineering Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyushu University, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, 812-8581 Japan Received June 11, 2005. In Final Form: August 16, 2005 When methyl 4,6-O-(p-nitrobenzylidene)-R-D-glucopyranoside (p-NO2Glu) was dissolved in water, p-NO2Glu molecules self-assembled to form a fiber (elemental fiber), and as a result, the solution became a partially transparent gel. When an equal (or more) amount of DNA was added to the gel, a white and crystalline gel was obtained. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy coupled with TEM and confocal microscopy suggested that DNA was included in the gel fibers made of p-NO2Glu molecules. The results imply that p-NO2Glu molecules are self-assembled to form an elemental fiber and these elemental fibers and DNA are twisted together to form higher hierarchic fibers. When the complexed gel made of plasmid DNA (pDNA) and p-NO2Glu was added to E. coli T7 S30 extract solution, the pDNA had less expression ability compared with naked one. When we added methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MβCyD), the expression rate was recovered with increasing added amount of MβCyD. The present paper shows inclusion and controlled release of DNA from a novel supporting material of DNA and that technology could play an important role in the development of localized approaches to gene therapy.
Low molecular weight gelators (LMWGs) are a generic term to refer to low molar mass molecules that can gelatinize water and/or organic solvents even at low concentrations (typically
