New cationic ¦Á,¦Â-po
ly(N-2-hydroxyethy
l)-d,
l-
aspartamide (PHEA) graft copo
lymers were synthesized by ATRP, using diethy
lamino ethy
l methacry
late (DEAEMA) as monomer for po
lymerization, yie
lding po
lycations (PHEA-pDEAEMA) ab
le to condense DNA. Then, consecutive ATRP conditions were set up on PHEA-pDEAEMA to obtain copo
lymers containing a
lso hydrophi
lic chains (PHEA-IB-pDMAEMA-pPEGMA) ab
le to improve biocompatibi
lity of po
lyp
lexes and to provide them stea
lth properties. Agarose ge
l studies showed that the copo
lymers effective
ly condensed p
lasmid DNA to form po
lyp
lexes. Light scattering studies were used to ana
lyze the size and the
¦Æ-potentia
l of these po
lyp
lexes, showing that copo
lymers were ab
le to condense the pDNA
leading to the formation of nanosca
le systems. The copo
lymers PHEA-IB-pDEAEMA showed high cytocompatibi
lity that was improved with the presence of PEGMA units in the side chain.
The transfection efficiency (luciferase) of polyplexes obtained with all copolymers was evaluated on B16F10 cell line obtaining a moderate transfection efficiency in comparison with bPEI that can be explained, supposing a low release of pDNA from polyplexes at endocellular level.