Lipofection

Lipofection (or liposome transfection) is a technique used to inject genetic material into a cell by means of liposomes, which are vesicles that can easily merge with the cell membrane since they are both made of a phospholipid bilayer. Lipofection generally uses a positively charged (cationic) lipid to form an aggregate with the negatively charged (anionic) genetic material.^[1] A net positive charge on this aggregrate has been assumed to increase the effectiveness of transfection through the negatively charged phospholipid bilayer.^[1] This transfection technology performs the same tasks as other biochemical procedures utilizing polymers, DEAE dextran, calcium phosphate, and electroporation. The main advantages of lipofection are its high efficiency, its ability to transfect all types of nucleic acids in a wide range of cell types, its ease of use, reproducibility, and low toxicity. In addition, this method is suitable for all transfection applications (transient, stable, co-transfection, reverse, sequential or multiple transfections). High throughput screening assay has also shown good efficiency in some in vivo models.

See also

• Lipofectamine

References

• Felgner PL, Gadek TR, Holm M, et al. (November 1987). "Lipofection: a highly efficient, lipid-mediated DNA-transfection procedure". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 84 (21): 7413–7. doi:10.1073/pnas.84.21.7413. PMC 299306. PMID 2823261.
• Felgner JH, Kumar R, Sridhar CN, et al. (January 1994). "Enhanced gene delivery and mechanism studies with a novel series of cationic lipid formulations". J. Biol. Chem. 269 (4): 2550–61. PMID 8300583.

Notes

1. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/EP1129064.pdf