Pollution Control

In this investigation, a galactosylated derivative of polyethylenimine(PEI) was prepared based on the attachment of two PEI molecules to separate the delivery and targeting motifs. Galactosylated low molecular weight PEI (LMW PEI) was coupled to a high molecular weight PEI (HMW PEI) through a succinic acid linker in order to restore the amine content of the whole conjugate used for ligand conjugation. The PEI conjugate showed substantial plasmid DNA condensation ability and buffering capacity. The size of PEI based nanoparticles was around 75 nm. The level of transgene expression increased by up to four folds in the cell line over-expressing asialoglycoprotein receptors (ASGPR). The results demonstrated that the separation of delivery and targeting motifs could be considered as a route to restore the amine content of the PEI molecule utilized for targeting ligand conjugation.