Natural Polymers as Nonviral Vectors in Gene Therapy

3 Natural Polymers as Nonviral Vectors in Gene Therapy 

Shellfish wastes from food processing (shrimp, crab, squid) 

Decolorization with 0.5% aqueous KMn04 solution and aqueous oxalic acid solution 

Self-assembled polymeric and oligomeric chitosan/DNA complex is formed by mixing chitosan with plasmid DNA was first reported by Mumper et al. in 

Due to the cationic nature of chitosan, it can bind with negatively charged DNA by electrostatic interaction, which can be determined by competitive binding tests using ethidium bromide (EtBr) as a DNA stain [54]. As chitosan is added to a solution of EtBr-stained DNA, cationic chitosan binds with DNA which causes a decrease in fluorescence, determined by confocal laser scanning microscopy [55]. There are various methods for the determination of the extent of DNA complexation or encapsulation into chitosan nanoparticles, such as gel electrophoresis [54], Pico Green assay [55], and photoelectric methods. 

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