Stearylamine liposome as a new efficient reagent for DNA transfection of eukaryotic cells.

The efficiency of stearylamine (SA) liposome in transfecting DNA into eukarytic cells was evaluated and compared with that of the Lipofectin reagent and the calcium phosphate transfection method. Results with the 21 cell lines tested varied, depending on the cell type. The overall indication was that SA liposomes had certain advantages over the Lipofectin reagent and both of them were superior to the calcium phosphate method, showing the greatest effect in 8 different cell lines, while the calcium phosphate method was the best in only 4 cell lines. There were 2 cell lines which could only be transfected by SA liposomes, another 2 only by the calcium phosphate method, but none depended solely on the Lipofectin reagent. The number of cell lines failed to be transfected was 2 for SA liposomes, 3 for calcium phosphate method, and 4 for the Lipofectin reagent. The advantage of the SA liposome method is discussed.