Fig. 3
The conformation-dependent cellular entry of the supramolecular ADA@CD-SCNGs. a The synthesis of FITC-labelled and RGD-conjugated ADA@CD-SCNGs as siRNA carriers (FL-SCNG-RGD-siRNA). Cartoon illustration of the b structure and c conformation-dependent cellular entry of the experimental SCNGs and control unfolded species used in the delivery test. d Confocal microscopy image of the uptake efficiency of the FL-SCNG-RGD-siRNA complex and control SCNGs after 24 h of incubation with hMSCs. The scale bars in upper panel are 100 µm and in lower panel are 50 µm. e Flow cytometry results of SCNG uptake by hMSCs. f Confocal microscopy images of immunofluorescence staining against RUNX 2 after culturing the hMSCs in osteogenic differentiation media supplemented with the various delivery vehicles for 7 days. The scale bars in the magnified panel are 20 µm, in the inserted panel are 100 µm. g Quantitative analysis of the expression level of the osteogenic marker genes RUNX 2, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and type I collagen (Col 1) for the groups shown in f by using qRT-PCR. FL FITC-labelled, UF unfolded, RGD RGD peptide, siRNA small interfering RNA. Data are means ± s.e.m. (n = 3). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 (ANOVA)
