Background and Objectives: Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) has been studied for many years as a suitable drug delivery material, mainly due to its chemical biocompatibility, total biodegradability, and non-toxic degradation products. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of plasmid eNOS-loaded PLGA nanospheres as a gene delivery system to control the high blood pressure.
Methods: Plasmid DNA was conjugated to PLGA, which was formulated into nanoparticle via double emulsification-solvent evaporation method. For physicochemical characterization, the particle size and zeta potential was measured by photon-correlation spectroscopy (PCS). In vitro, releases of plasmid DNA from PLGA nanospheres were performed in phosphate buffered saline. In vivo, PLGA/pDNA nanosphere with eNOS or GFP gene (10關g/100關L) was injected intravenous to SHR on beginning and 10 days after. Blood pressure (BP) was measured by tail cuff method for 5 weeks.
Results: The average size of PLGA nanospheres prepared to 424 nm (Fig.), and DNA loading efficiency within PLGA nanospheres were about 21%. During study period, eNOS/PLGA group showed reduced BP than control group (Fig.). Urine nitric oxide concentration was increased from eNOS/PLGA group than control.
Conclusion: In this study, we made the optimal condition to prepare PLGA nanosphere as a non-viral gene delivering system. With this, we can control BP effectively in animal hypertension model.