Preparation of a Carrier to Achieve In Vivo Delivery of siRNA: The Example of Chitosan-Coated Poly(isobutylcyanoacrylate) Nanoparticles.

This chapter describes the preparation of chitosan-coated poly(isobutylcyanoacrylate) nanoparticles as a suitable carrier to deliver siRNAs to two types of xenograft tumor models of mice. The nanoparticles are prepared by a method of emulsion polymerization that includes steps of polymerization and purification. The polymerization method is carried out in a single pot in an aqueous medium. siRNAs are coupled with the nanoparticles at the end of the preparation by adsorption. The protocol also explains how to determine optimum yield/the titer of association of siRNA with the nanoparticles. It is described for a preparation scale at 4 mL of nanoparticle dispersion at a concentration of 42-46 mg nanoparticles/mL. Optimal loading capacity of the nanoparticles with the siRNA can be achieved by performing an association yield above 90% using a mass ratio of 1 mg siRNA/50 mg of nanoparticles (20 μg siRNA/mg nanoparticles, 1 nmol siRNA (Mw 14 kDa)/mg nanoparticles).