Fig. 2. Characterization of Nano-CD nanoparticles.
a Schematic illustration of the preparation of CD particles. b TEM images of Nano-CD in pH 7.4 or pH 5.0. c Particle size and zeta potential (d) of Nano-CD in pH 7.4 or pH 5.0. e Agarose gel electrophoresis of pDNA in PEIPT and Nano-CD (Lane 1, DNA ladder; lane 2, naked plasmid; lane 3–8, PEIPT@pDNA at mass ratios of 1: 1, 2: 1, 5: 1, 10: 1, 15: 1 and 20: 1, respectively; lane 9, Nano-dCas9 (20: 5: 1); lane 10, Nano-CD (20: 5: 1) and lane 11, Nano-CD (20: 5: 1) in pH 5.0). f qPCR analysis for sgRNA screening (n = 3 biological replicates per group) and GSDME expression (n = 5 biological replicates per group). g, h CC3, GSDME, GSDME-N, β-actin expression with different treatments by Western Blots assay. i FCM assay of apoptosis by Annexin V/PI staining (n = 4 biological replicates per group). In panels f, h and i, data are presented as the mean ± s.d. and statistically analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s tests.