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  • Article
    Jin Q, Wang Z, Yan F, Deng Z, Ni F, Wu J, Shandas R, Liu X, Zheng H.
    PLoS One. 2013;8(9):e76544.
    A novel cationic microbubble (MB) for improvement of the DNA loading capacity and the ultrasound-mediated gene delivery efficiency has been developed; it has been prepared with commercial lipids and a stearic acid modified polyethylenimine 600 (Stearic-PEI600) polymer synthesized via acylation reaction of branched PEI600 and stearic acid mediated by N, N'-carbonyldiimidazole (CDI). The MBs' concentration, size distribution, stability and zeta potential (ζ-potential) were measured and the DNA loading capacity was examined as a function of the amount of Stearic-PEI600. The gene transfection efficiency and cytotoxicity were also examined using breast cancer MCF-7 cells via the reporter plasmid pCMV-Luc, encoding the firefly luciferase gene. The results showed that the Stearic-PEI600 polymer caused a significant increase in magnitude of ζ-potential of MBs. The addition of DNA into cationic MBs can shift ζ-potentials from positive to negative values. The DNA loading capacity of the MBs grew linearly from (5±0.2) ×10⁻³ pg/µm² to (20±1.8) ×10⁻³ pg/µm² when Stearic-PEI600 was increased from 5 mol% to 30 mol%. Transfection of MCF-7 cells using 5% PEI600 MBs plus ultrasound exposure yielded 5.76±2.58×10³ p/s/cm²/sr average radiance intensity, was 8.97- and 7.53-fold higher than those treated with plain MBs plus ultrasound (6.41±5.82) ×10² p/s/cm²/sr, (P<0.01) and PEI600 MBs without ultrasound (7.65±6.18) ×10² p/s/cm²/sr, (P<0.01), respectively. However, the PEI600 MBs showed slightly higher cytotoxicity than plain MBs. The cells treated with PEI600-MBs and plain MBs plus ultrasound showed 59.5±6.1% and 71.4±7.1% cell viability, respectively. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that the novel cationic MBs were able to increase DNA loading capacity and gene transfection efficiency and could be potentially applied in targeted gene delivery and therapy.
    Digital Access Access Options
  • Book
    James Stacey Taylor.
    Summary: "This is the first book to argue in favor of paying people for their blood plasma. It does not merely argue that offering compensation to plasma donors is morally permissible. It argues that prohibiting donor compensation is morally wrong-and that it is morally wrong for all of the reasons that are offered against allowing donor compensation. Opponents of donor compensation claim that it will reduce the amount and quality of plasma obtained, exploit and coerce donors, and undermine social cohesion. James Stacey Taylor argues that empirical evidence demonstrates that compensating plasma donors greatly increases the amount of plasma obtained with no adverse effects on the quality of the pharmaceutical products that are manufactured from it. Prohibiting compensation thus harms patients by reducing their access to the medicines they need. He also argues that it is the prohibition of compensation-not its offer-that exploits donors, fails to respect the moral need to secure a person's authoritative consent to her treatment, and prevents donors from giving their informed consent to donate. Prohibiting compensation thus not only harms patients-it wrongs donors. Bloody Bioethics will appeal to researchers, advanced students, and medical professionals interested in bioethics, moral philosophy, and the moral limits of markets"-- Provided by publisher.
    Digital Access TandFonline 2022