A CATIONIC LIPID FOR RAPID AND EFFICIENT DELIVERY OF PLASMID DNA INTOMAMMALIAN-CELLS

Cationic lipids are widely used for gent! transfer into cultured eukar yotic cells, However, lipids with potent transfection activity are oft en associated with high levels of cytotoxicity, and also require serum -free conditions for optimal performance. These characteristics in man y cases result in unsatisfactory transfection efficiency. hn this repo rt, we describe a new cationic amphiphile, utyl-N'-tetradecyl-3-tehrad ecylaminopropionamidine (Amidine). Amidine requires only 1-2 hour incu bation intervals to produce maximal. transfection efficiency, and can transfect cells in the presence of serum. Such characteristics signifi cantly minimize cytotoxicity, and also provide time flexibility for re searchers. We routinely obtain over 80% transfection efficiency as evi denced by use of an enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP) as the reporter, These studies demonstrate the utility of Amidine for rapid a nd efficient transfection of mammalian cells. (C) 1997 Academic Press.