Abstract

Calcium phosphate system has been used widely in in vitro gene delivery for almost four decades. Excellent biocompatibility and simple application have motivated the researchers to always consider this system in their transfection experiments. However, there was a major drawback regarding the low transfection efficiency of calcium phosphate. Hence, there have been many efforts in order to increase the gene delivery potential of this system. In this paper, the application of calcium phosphate in gene delivery is introduced. Moreover, the recent progresses in the application of calcium phosphate in the delivery of (oligo)nucleotides and different approaches to improve the properties of this system are reviewed.

Keywords: Calcium phosphate, hydroxyapatite, bioceramics, gene delivery, transfection, biocompatibility.