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| Of all synthetic polycations, polyethylenimine (PEI) is one of the most effective gene carriers in vitro and vivo because of its unique combination of high charge density and enhanced "proton spong effect" in endolysosome. When PEI is used as gene carriers in vivo, it gets access to systemic circulation sooner or later. In this perspective, it is important to study their effects on blood. The aim of this work was to report the effects of different molecular weight (MW) of PEIs on human red blood cells (RBCs), one of the blood components. Specifically, RBC hemolysis induced by PEIs was assessed, and the RBC morphology was analyzed by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). No obvious hemolysis was observed with PEI-0.6 and PEI-1.8 at concentrations <10 mg/mL and PEI-10 at concentrations < 0.01 mg/mL. Morphological evaluation by OM and SEM showed that, high concentrations and high MW of PEI interact with RBCs, leading to RBCs adhesion, aggregation, or both. The surface roughness of the RBCs increased along with increasing PEI-10 concentration, as observed by AFM. The internal structure of the RBCs aggregation analyzed by TEM showed that the cells aggregated and had a capacity to deform. In conclusion, PEIs caused RBC membrane disruption, morphology change, and hemolysis in a MW- and concentration-dependent manner. |
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| Keywords:polyethylenimine; human red blood cells; hemolysis; morphology; aggregation |
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