Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles as a Novel Gene Carrier

Hydroxyapatite crystalline nanoparticles were created by a precipitation hydrothermal technique and the majority of crystal particles were in the size range of 40–60nm and exhibited a colloidal feature when suspended in water. The gastric cancer SGC-7901 cell line cells were cultivated in the presence of10–100 μg ml⁻¹ hydroxyapatite nanoparticle suspension and verified by MTT evaluation for their biocompatibility in vitro. The agarose gel electrophoresis analysis demonstrated that the HA nanoparticles potentially adsorb the green fluorescence protein EGFP-N1 plasmid DNA at pH 2 and 7, but not at pH 12. The DNA–nanoparticle complexes transfected EGFP-N1 pDNA into SGC-7901 cells in vitro with the efficiency about 80% as referenced with Lipofectmine TM 2000. In vivo animal experiment revealed no acute toxic adverse effect 2weeks after tail vein injection into mice, and TEM examination demonstrated their biodistribution and expression within the cytoplasm and also a little in the nuclei of the liver, kidney and brain tissue cells. These results suggest that the HA nanoparticle is a promising material that can be used as gene carrier, vectors.