Zhi-Gang Zhao

Amino Acid‐Based Cationic Lipids With α‐Tocopherol Hydrophobic Tail for Efficient Gene Delivery

In this work, three amino acid‐based cationic lipids L1‐L3 bearing the same α‐tocopherol moiety and biodegradable ester bond linkage, but differing in the polar head‐group, were prepared and applied as non‐viral gene delivery vectors. The physicochemical properties such as size, zeta‐potential, stability, and cellular uptake of the lipoplexes formed from lipids L1‐L3 as well as the transfection efficacy (TE) were investigated. The results showed that the chemical composition of the cationic head‐group clearly affects the physicochemical parameters of the amino acid‐based lipids, especially the TE. Besides their low cytotoxicity, these lipoplexes also showed comparable TE to commercially available lipofectamine 2000. In particular, dipeptide lipid L3 gave excellent TE, which was 1.8 times higher than bPEI 25k in the presence of 10% serum in Hela cells. These results demonstrate the promising use of novel dipeptide lipids for safe and efficient gene delivery.

Microwave-assisted synthesis and in vitro antibacterial activity of novel steroidal thiosemicarbazone derivatives

Herein, we reported the synthesis of 16 novel steroidal thiosemicarbazone derivatives via the condensation of steroidal ketones and substituted thiosemicarbazides under solvent-free conditions using microwave irradiation. The yields obtained are in the range of 84-96% using microwave method and 46-62% using conventional method. All the synthesized compounds (7a-p) have been characterized by (1)H NMR, ESI-MS, IR and elemental analyses. All the series compounds (7a-p) were evaluated for their antibacterial activity against and the results were compared with the standard drug Amoxicillin. Some of the compounds from the series like 7c, 7o and 7p were equipotent with Amoxicillin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Also compound 7h was better than Amoxicillin against Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis.

Charge-switching amino acids-based cationic lipids for efficient gene delivery

A series of charge-switching amino acids-based cationic lipids 4a-4e bearing a benzyl ester at the terminus of the acyl chain, but differing in the polar-head group were prepared. The physicochemical properties of these lipids, including size, zeta potential and cellular uptake of the lipoplexes formed from with DNA, as well as the transfection efficiency (TE), were investigated. The results showed that the chemical structure of the cationic head-group clearly affects the physicochemical parameters of the amino acid-based lipids and especially the TE. The selected lipid, 4c gave 2.1 times higher TE than bPEI 25k in the presence of 10% serum in HeLa cells, with little toxicity.

Microwave-assisted synthesis and antibacterial activity of derivatives of 3-[1-(4-fluorobenzyl)-1H-indol-3-yl]-5-(4-fluorobenzylthio)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-4-amine

Herein, an excellent method for the synthesis of twelve novel Schiff base derivatives containing indole and triazole assisted by microwave irradiation is reported. Compared with the conventional method, the yields increased from 59–84 % to 85–96 % and the reaction time was reduced from 24–30 h to 4–8 min. Moreover, all series of the newly synthesized Schiff bases were evaluated for their antibacterial activity. The values of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and IC50 indicated that many target compounds possessed excellent antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Bacillus subtilis.

Biodegradable Poly(Amino Ester) with Aromatic Backbone as Efficient Nonviral Gene Delivery Vectors

The development of gene delivery vectors with high efficiency and biocompatibility is one of the critical points of gene therapy. Two biodegradable poly(amino ester)s were synthesized via ring-opening polymerization between low molecular weight (LMW) PEI and diepoxide. The molecular weights of poly(amino ester)s were measured by GPC. Agarose gel retardation assays showed that these materials have good DNA-binding ability and can retard the electrophoretic mobility of plasmid DNA (pDNA) at a weight ratio of 1. The formed polyplexes have proper sizes of around 200 nm and zeta-potential values of about 30–40 mV for cellular uptake. In vitro experiments revealed that polymer P2 gave higher transfection efficiency than PEI 25 KDa and Lipofectamine 2000 with less toxicity, especially in 293 cells. Results demonstrate that such a type of degradable poly(amino ester) may serve as a promising non-viral gene vector.

Aromatic Thioacetal-Bridged ROS-Responsive Nanoparticles as Novel Gene Delivery Vehicles

In this report, a series of polycations are designed and synthesized by conjugating reactive oxygen species (ROS)-responsive thioacetal-linkers to low molecular weight (LMW) polyethylenimine (PEI) via ring-opening polymerization. Their structure–activity relationships (SARs) as gene delivery vectors are systematically studied. Although the MWs of the target polymers are only ~9 KDa, they show good DNA binding ability. The formed polyplexes, which are stable toward serum but decomposed under ROS-conditions, have appropriate sizes (180~300 nm) and positive zeta-potentials (+35~50 mV). In vitro experiments reveal that these materials have low cytotoxicity, and higher transfection efficiency (TE) than controls. Furthermore, the title polymers exhibit excellent serum tolerance. With the present of 10% serum, the TE of the polymers even increases up to 10 times higher than 25 KDa PEI and 9 times higher than Lipofectamine 2000. The SAR studies also reveal that electron-withdrawing groups on the aromatic ring in 4a may benefit to balance between the DNA condensation and release for efficient gene transfection.

Zn(II)-dipicolylamine-based metallo-lipids as novel non-viral gene vectors

In this study, a series of Zn(II)-dipicolylamine (Zn-DPA) based cationic lipids bearing different hydrophobic tails (long chains, α-tocopherol, cholesterol or diosgenin) were synthesized. Structure–activity relationship (SAR) of these lipids was studied in detail by investigating the effects of several structural aspects including the type of hydrophobic tails, the chain length and saturation degree. In addition, several assays were used to study their interactions with plasmid DNA, and results reveal that these lipids could condense DNA into nanosized particles with appropriate size and zeta-potentials. MTT-based cell viability assays showed that lipoplexes 5 had low cytotoxicity. The in vitro gene transfection studies showed the hydrophobic tails clearly affected the TE, and hexadecanol-containing lipid 5b gives the best TE, which was 2.2 times higher than bPEI 25k in the presence of 10% serum. The results not only demonstrate that these lipids might be promising non-viral gene vectors, but also afford us clues for further optimization of lipidic gene delivery materials.

Lipoic acid functionalized amino acids cationic lipids as gene vectors.

A series of reducible cationic lipids 4a-4f with different amino acid polar-head groups were prepared. The novel lipid contains a hydrophobic lipoic acid (LA) moiety, which can be reduced under reductive conditions to release of the encapsulated plasmid DNA. The particle size, zeta potential and cellular uptake of lipoplexes formed with DNA, as well as the transfection efficacy (TE) were characterized. The TE of the cationic lipid based on arginine was especially high, and was 2.5times higher than that of a branched polyethylenimine in the presence of 10% serum.