Asymmetric Silica Nanoparticles with Tailored Spiky Coverage Derived from Silica–Polymer Cooperative Assembly for Enhanced Hemocompatibility and Gene Delivery
Xiu‐Zhen Lin, Weixi Wu, Jianye Fu, Yannan Yang, Bing Guo, Chengzhong Yu, Hao Song
Abstract
Asymmetric mesoporous silica nanoparticles (AMSNs) with one side featuring a spiky nanotopography, while the other side is smooth and solid, were synthesized via an ethylenediamine (EDA)-directed silica–polymer cooperative assembly approach. By simply varying the EDA amount (x), AMSNs-x samples with adjustable spiky surface coverage were obtained. It is demonstrated that a spiky coverage higher than 50% improved the hemocompatibility of AMSN-x, possibly due to the reduced contact area of the smooth side exposed to the red blood cell (RBC) membrane. Moreover, AMSNs-175 and AMSNs-200 with high spiky coverage enhanced their plasmid DNA (pDNA) loading and binding capability, as well as cellular uptake into HEK-293T cells, thus resulting in high transfection performance. The good hemocompatibility and high performance in pDNA delivery of AMSNs-x with high spiky coverage allow them to serve as promising nonviral vectors for potential applications in gene therapies and DNA vaccines.