Plasmid DNA encapsulation and release from solvent diffusion nanospheres

The first step toward hydrophobic: polymer-based nanospheres for gene deliv ery is to encapsulate and release plasmid DNA. However, encapsulating large hydrophilic molecules in very small nanospheres has been difficult, and on ly a few examples exist in the literature. For example, maximizing protein and peptide as well as small molecule encapsulation requires adjustments in pH or addition of excipients to charge neutralize, and make less hydrophil ic, the compound to be encapsulated. Following this model, we have used a c ationic lipid to load and release plasmid DNA from nanospheres made by the phase inversion/solvent diffusion method. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.