I know that it is the pivotal driving force for endosomal escape, via "proton-sponge effect", a mechanism explained by the acidification of the endosome or lysosome by "the pumping of protons, accompanied by the influx of chloride ions that compensates the proton influx into the vesicle. This ion influx causes an increase in the osmotic pressure inside the vesicle and thus a swelling process ruptures the endosome/lysosome, allowing the escape of the polyplexes before being degradated"[1].
But why? What does the buffering activity have to do with the acidification / H+ pumping to the intracellular milieu of the cell? Does the polyplex "attract" ions? Why? How?
[1] Agirre, M. et al - Low Molecular Weight Chitosan (LMWC)-based Polyplexes for pDNA Delivery: From Bench to Bedside , Polymers
I am not an expert in endosomes / lysosomes, but I will tell you about the buffer capacity. This is the amount of acid or alkali, the addition of which to 1 liter of buffer solution changes the pH by 1.
The buffer capacity determined by proteins depends on the concentration of proteins, their secondary and tertiary structures, and the number of free proton-acceptor groups. Osmosis is the penetration of water through a membrane, for example, from a solution with a lower concentration of proton into a solution with a higher concentration of proton or from a smaller buffer capacity into a larger buffer capacity. Attach it to your problem.
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