were dissolved into ethanol at 50 mg/mL and stored at 4 °C. This
stock was further diluted to 3.33 mg/mL in citric acid buffer (pH
4, 100 mM) and rapidly mixed with 3pRNA or OH-RNA at charge ratios
(N:P) between 20:1 and 1:1. After incubating at room temperature for
30 min, 1.24× volume phosphate buffer (pH 8, 100 mM) was added
and mixed rapidly to form nanoparticles (NPs). After 15 min, the solution
was further diluted into 1× PBS (pH 7.4, Gibco) before use. The
second block DMAEMA content is estimated to have 50% protonation for
the purposes of determining N:P ratios. A charge ratio of 20:1 was
selected for all in vitro cell culture studies. The
same approach was used to prepare formulations for in vivo studies, except that they were suspended at 10 mg/mL in citric acid
buffer instead of 3.33 mg/mL, phosphate buffer was added at a ratio
of 1:1.26, a charge ratio of 15:1 was used, and formulations were
filtered using a 0.22 μm syringe filter (Pall corporation).
3pRNA complexation efficiency was determined by quantifying free 3pRNA
after NP/3pRNA formulation with the fluorescence-based RiboGreen reagent
(Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer’s instructions.