摘要 |
Disclosed are gene carriers utilizing beta-1,3-glucan and methods of preparing the same. The beta-1,3-glucan has at least one 1,6-glucopyranoside branch and is chemically modified through periodate oxidation and reductive amination so as to impart nucleic acid-binding functional groups (for example, cationic functional groups) to at least some of the 1,6-glucopyranoside branches thereof. Triple helix beta-1,3-glucan is dissolved in a polar organic solvent to form single-stranded beta-1,3-glucan. By replacing, in the presence of a nucleic acid, the polar organic solvent for the solution containing the chemically modified single-stranded beta-1,3-glucan by water, a complex (gene carrier) is formed in which the nucleic acid is bound to double-stranded beta-1,3-glucan.
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