Hydrophilized 3D porous scaffold for effective plasmid DNA delivery

In this study, hydrophilic PLGA/Pluronic F127 scaffolds loaded with a pDNA/PEI‐PEG complex were prepared to estimate their potential use as a polymeric matrix for pDNA delivery. The scaffold was fabricated by a novel precipitation/particulate leaching method. The prepared pDNA/PEI‐PEG complex‐loaded PLGA/Pluronic F127 scaffold exhibited a highly porous (porosity, 93–95%) and open pore structure, as well as hydrophilicity, which can provide the good environment for cell adhesion and growth. The pDNA/PEI‐PEG complexes were efficiently loaded into the PLGA/Pluronic F127 scaffold and continuously released from the scaffolds up to ∼90% of the initial loading amount over a period of 8 wk, which may lead to continuous gene transfection into human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells ( h BMMSCs). From the in vitro cell culture in the scaffolds for transfection, it was observed that the pDNA/PEI‐PEG complex‐loaded hydrophilic PLGA/Pluronic F127 scaffold has a higher transfection efficiency of the pDNA/PEI‐PEG complexes into h BMMSCs than the hydrophobic PLGA ones. The cell viability associated with the pDNA/PEI‐PEG complexes released from the PLGA/Pluronic F127 scaffold was not significantly different from that of the PLGA/Pluronic F127 scaffold without pDNA, indicating its low cytotoxicity, probably due to the sustained release of the pDNA/PEI‐PEG complex from the scaffolds. From these results, we could suggest that the pDNA/PEI‐PEG complex‐loaded hydrophilic PLGA/Pluronic F127 scaffold can be an effective gene delivery system for 3D tissue formation. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 2011.