Colloidally stable novel copolymeric system for gene delivery in complete growth media.

Novel cationic pentablock copolymers based on poly(2-diethylaminoethylmethacrylate) (PDEAEM) and Pluronic F127 were evaluated as non-viral gene delivery vectors from a physiochemical point of view for stability and transfection efficiency in complete growth media. A novel strategy was introduced to sterically stabilize the polyplexes of such Pluronic-based cationic polymers against aggregation with serum proteins. As cationic pentablock copolymers condense plasmid DNA into nanoplexes of 100-150 nm diameter, unmodified Pluronic added to the formulation self-assemble with the pentablock copolymers on the surface of polyplexes and shield the cationic PDEAEM chains of pentablock copolymers sterically with its long poly(ethyleneoxide) chains.