Effects of Acid and Base on the Inductive Efficiency of Oligonucleotide on the Vesicle Formation from Single-Chained Cationic Surfactant

Recently, we reported for the first time that oligonucleotide could induce single‐chained cationic surfactant molecules to aggregate into vesicles and the facilitative efficiency of oligonucleotide on vesicle formation was dependent on its size and sequence. In the present paper, we will continue to study the effects of acid and base on the facilitative efficiency of oligonucleotide on vesicle formation. It is found that proton ions show little effect on the facilitative efficiency while hydroxide ions make it decreased. Moreover, the percentage of oligonucleotide involved in vesicle formation in basic solution is much lower than that in acidic solution (which is almost equal to that in water). Since the structures and properties of DNA/amphiphile complex are very important for its application as nonviral gene carrier, this study may provide some helpful information for gene therapy.