Amino-modified tetrapod-like ZnO nanostructures were tried as novel carriers for
mammalian cell transfections. The nanostructures consisted of four needle-shaped tetrahedrally
arranged legs connected at the center. After silica coating and amino modification, ZnO
nanostructures complexes bound plasmid DNA through electrostatic interactions in aqueous solution.
When mixed with cells, DNA-nanostructures attached easily onto cell membranes and entered the
cells for gene expressions. Due to high positive charge densities on surfaces and needle-shaped
tetrahedral structures, functionalized ZnO used as carriers for cell transfections with both high
transfection efficiency and little cytotoxicity. And a possible transfection machamism was proposed
in this report.
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