New Cationic Carbohydrate-Containing Amphiphiles and Liposomes Based on Them for Effective Delivery of Short Nucleic Acids into Eukaryotic Cells

New cationic amphiphiles containing lactose or D-mannose residues were synthesized and cationic liposomes with 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) were obtained. The cytotoxicity and transfection activity of new carbohydrate-containing amphiphiles and cationic liposomes against HEK 293, BHK and BHK IR-780 cells were studied. It has been shown that cationic amphiphiles effectively deliver only short fluorescein-labeled oligodeoxyribonucleotide into eukaryotic cells, while cationic liposomes formed by lactose containing amphiphile and DOPE effectively mediate the transport of short oligonucleotide and small interfering RNA and were non-toxic to cells. The resulting cationic amphiphiles can be used for intracellular delivering of nucleic acids both individually and part of cationic liposomes.