Differential Modulation of Cellular Bioenergetics by Poly(l‑lysine)s of Different Molecular Weights

Poly­(l-lysine)­s (PLLs), and related derivatives, have received considerable attention as nonviral vectors. High molecular weight PLLs (H-PLLs) are superior transfectants compared with low Mw PLLs (L-PLLs), but suggested to be more cytotoxic. Through a pan-integrated metabolomic approach using Seahorse XF technology, we studied the impact of PLL size on cellular bioenergetic processes in two human cell lines. In contrast to L-PLLs (1–5 kDa), H-PLLs (15–30 kDa) were more detrimental to both mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and glycolytic activity resulting in considerable intracellular ATP depletion, thereby initiating necrotic-type cell death. The cellular differences to polycation sensitivity were further related to the mitochondrial state, where the impact was substantial on cells with hyperpolarized mitochondria. These medium-throughput approaches offer better opportunities for understanding inter-related intracellular and cell type-dependent processes instigating a bioenergetics crisis, thus, aiding selection (from available libraries) and improved design of safer biodegradable polycations for nucleic acid compaction and cell type-specific delivery.