Ultrasound enhancement of in vitro transfection of plasmid DNA by a cationized gelatin.

In vitro transfection efficiency of a plasmid DNA for rat gastric mucosal (RGM)-1 cells was enhanced by ultrasound (US) irradiation. Ethylenediamine was introduced to the carboxyl groups of gelatin to prepare a cationized gelatin as the vector of plasmid DNA encoding luciferase. An electrophoresis experiment revealed that the cationized gelatin was mixed with plasmid DNA at the weight ratio of 5.0 to form a cationized gelatin-plasmid DNA complex. The complex obtained was about 200nm in diameter with a positive charge. When incubated with the cationized gelatin-plasmid DNA complex and subsequently exposed to US, RGM-1 cells exhibited a significantly enhanced luciferase activity although the extent increased with an increase in the DNA concentration, in contrast to the cationized gelatin alone with or without US irradiation and US irradiation alone. US irradiation was also effective in enhancing the activity by free plasmid DNA although the extent was less than that of the complex. The US-induced enhancement of luciferase activity was influenced by the exposure time period, frequency, and intensity of US. The activity enhancement became higher to be significant at the irradiation time period of 60 s and thereafter decreased. A series of cytotoxicity experiments revealed that an increase in the irradiation time period and intensity of US decreased the viability of cells themselves. It is possible that US irradiation under an appropriate condition enables cells to accelerate the permeation of the cationized gelatin-plasmid DNA complex through the cell membrane, resulted in enhanced transfection efficiency of plasmid DNA. These findings clearly indicate that US exposure is a simple and promising method to enhance the gene expression of plasmid DNA.