Systematically probing the bottom-up synthesis of AuPAMAM conjugates for enhanced transfection efficiency.

Background: Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have shown great promise as scaffolds for gene therapy vectors due to their attractive physiochemical properties which include biocompatibility, ease of functionalization via the nearly covalent gold-sulfur dative bond, and surface plasmon optical properties. Previously, we synthesized stable AuNP-polyamidoamine (AuPAMAM) conjugates and showed their success in vitro as non-viral gene delivery vectors.

Results: In this study, we systematically perturbed each component of the AuPAMAM conjugates and analyzed the resulting effect on transfection efficiency.