Table 1.

Polymeric and non-polymeric nanoparticulate vectors for gene delivery

	Nanoparticles	Properties	References
	Poly lactide-co-glycolide (PLGA) and Poly lactic acid (PLA)	Biocompatible and biodegradable, can provide sustained delivery of polynucleotides.	Kim et al 2005; Ribiero et al 2005
	Polyethyleneimine (PEI)	High transfection efficiency owing to faster endosomal escape. High toxicity reported in vitro and in vivo.	Moghimi et al 2005; Thomas et al 2005
Polymeric	Polymethacrylate	Lower toxicity as compared to PEI. Endosomal buffering ability similar to PEI.	Dubruel et al 2003; Feng et al 2006
	Poly-L-Lysine (PLL)	Biodegradable. Slow endosomal escape resulting in lower transfection efficiency	Merdan et al 2002; Zhang et al 2004
	Poly (β-amino ester) (PBAE)	High transfection efficiency comparable to PEI. Prolonged release of polynucleotide.	Lynn and Langer 2000; Little et al 2005
	Chitosan	Mucoadhesive property desired for oral and nasal delivery. Slow onset of expression.	Ferrari et al 1997; Koping-Hoggard et al 2001
	Cationic liposomes	Extensively used for in vitro transfections. High in vivo toxicity	Felgner et al 1987; Tousignant et al 2000
Non-polymeric	Gold Nanoparticles	Highly inert and non-toxic. Surface functionalization can be easily performed.	Kawano et al al 2006; Sandhu et al 2002
	Magnetic nanoparticles	High transfection efficiency in variety of cell lines.	Huth et al 2004; Scherer et al 2002