Development of Silica-Based Biodegradable Submicrometric Carriers and Investigating Their Characteristics as in Vitro Delivery Vehicles

Nanostructured silica (SiO(2))-based materials are attractive carriers for the delivery of bioactive compounds into cells. In this study, we developed hollow submicrometric particles composed of SiO(2) capsules that were separately loaded with various bioactive molecules such as dextran, proteins, and nucleic acids. The structural characterization of the reported carriers was conducted using transmission and scanning electron microscopies (TEM/SEM), confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Moreover, the interaction of the developed carriers with cell lines was studied using standard viability, proliferation, and uptake assays. The submicrometric SiO(2)-based capsules loaded with DNA plasmid encoding green fluorescence proteins (GFP) were used to transfect cell lines. The obtained results were compared with studies made with similar capsules composed of polymers and show that SiO(2)-based capsules provide better transfection rates on the costs of higher toxicity.