With our extensive experience and advanced platform, researchers from Creative Biolabs have earned a great reputation from our clients for superior services and high-quality products. We are proud to offer a series of reagents for mRNA delivery, such as benzalkonium chloride.
Like other biological drugs, therapeutics based on RNAs often have limited cellular uptake and a short lifetime hampering their clinical application. There is a need to develop nanocarriers to transport RNA therapeutics to the targeted cells in robust and cost-effective ways to tackle this problem. RNA should be delivered directly to its active site to ensure enough genetic material to the target tissue, increase target specific efficacy, and decrease the off-target side effects.
Nanoemulsions are emulsions with a mean droplet diameter typically less than 200 nm, which have gained massive interest to be used as drug delivery carriers for different types of systems. Nanoemulsions are composed of immiscible liquids, which are stabilized by surfactants and co-surfactants. Nanoemulsions can enhance the solubilization properties of poorly water-soluble drugs, increase drug loading, and avoid enzymatic degradation.
Fig.1 Load RNA to the nanoemulsion composed of benzalkonium chloride. (Pirhadi, 2020)
A cationic surfactant, which has been used in the preparation of nanoemulsions, is benzalkonium chloride. It is quaternary ammonium, a cationic surface-active agent, and a mixture of alkyl benzyl dimethyl quaternary ammonium chlorides of various alkyl chain lengths. It has been instilled in droplets for ocular diseases over long periods and has been considered relatively safe. Studies have shown that benzalkonium chloride can disrupt the epithelium and act as a penetration enhancer, increasing drug permeation.
For gene delivery, cationic emulsion-DNA complexes can protect plasmid DNA from degradation and facilitate gene transfection. In one study, a nanoemulsion composed of benzalkonium chloride as the surfactant, cyclohexane as the oil phase, and ethanol as the co-surfactant in water is used to load RNA molecules. The simulation shows that RNA carries the negative charges attach to the benzalkonium chloride on the surface of the nanoemulsion, which has positive charges. Overall, oil molecules are placed in the central region of the droplet, and the droplets retain their compact structure.
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