Characterization of complexation of PVP copolymer with DNA - Liang Yong

Interactions of amphiphilic copolymer poly(N‐vinylpyrrolidone‐co‐N‐t‐Boc‐ tryptophanamido‐N′‐methacrylthiourea) [P(NVP‐co‐TrpAMT)] and poly(N‐vinylpyrrlidone) (PVP) with DNA were studied with the aim to understand the difference in their complexation efficiencies when considered as a potential non‐viral delivery vector. Fluorescence spectroscopy, ethidium bromide (EB) quenching, ζ potential measurement, and agarose gel electrophoresis were all carried out in Tris‐HCl (pH 7.4) solution to assess the degree of interaction between the (co)polymers P(NVP‐co‐TrpAMT) and DNA. All of these measurements show that the high affinity of the copolymer for DNA can be demonstrated. We also found that P(NVP‐co‐TrpAMT)‐I (PVP/PTrpAMT molar ratio was 100:2.88) exhibited a high DNA cleavage activity and induced the supercoiled form of the plasmid cleavage in the nicked and linear forms. Moreover, P …