Fig. 5.

AuNP–siRNA complexes are resistant to nuclease degradation. AuNP–si-3 complexes (80 nM) were pre-treated with Riboshredder RNase blend and the change in absorbance at 260 nm was monitored over a timescale of 0–300 s. (a) Degradation of naked si-3 (dashed line) and AuNP–si-3 (solid line) with Riboshredder RNase blend (0.1 U/500 µl). RNase-treated AuNP–si-3 was cultured with Vero cells for 48 h and infected with DENV-2 (m.o.i. 0.1) for an additional 72 h. (b) qPCR (mean unitless ratio of DENV-2 capsid : β-actin±sem) was performed to measure DENV-2 replication at 72 h post-infection. qPCR data were compared with RNase-treated water only controls (Control) and analysed with a two-tailed Student’s t-test (n = 3; ***P<0.001). The data represent two independent experiments.