A Computational Study of the siRNA-Silica Nanoparticle Binding Process.

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to investigate the structural and energetic features related to the direct binding of a short interfering RNA (siRNA) molecule on a silica nanoparticle functionalized with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) groups, immersed in a sodium chloride aqueous solution at physiological concentration. Three different grafting densities of APTES were evaluated, namely, 2.7, 1.