2.5. Gel retardation assay

The binding potential of PACD to siRNAs was evaluated using 2% agarose gel electrophoresis. To start, a series of PACD/siRNA polyplexes with varying weight ratios were prepared. Then, 0.5 μg siRNA from each sample was loaded into the agarose gel with a loading buffer and run for 15–20 min at 130 V. Finally, the agarose gel was photographed using a UV imaging system (Tanon, Shanghai, China).