Figure 5.

Hydrodynamic size of lyophilized nanoparticles stored at various times and temperatures.

Notes: All values were normalized against those of freshly made material from the same batch. The nanoparticles (T-NP) were lyophilized at 10 mg/mL in the presence of 5% w/w TL and 0.1 M Tris buffer pH 7.4. The materials were then stored at −20°C, 4°C, 20°C, and 37°C. The reconstituted nanoparticles were sonicated for 1 min before binding with siRNA at a NP/siRNA mass ratio of 50. (A) Hydrodynamic diameter of siRNA nanoconstructs (T-siRNA-NP). (B, C) Size distribution of lyophilized T-NP stored at −20°C and 4°C at week 8 (B) and week 12 (C). (D) Size distribution of T-siHER2-NP stored at −20°C for the specified periods. Statistical significance (p-value) was evaluated against the fresh material. *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001; ****p<0.0001.

Abbreviations: NP, nanoparticle; TL, trehalose.