Spatial and Temporal Control of Cavitation Allows High In Vitro Transfection Efficiency in the Absence of Transfection Reagents or Contrast Agents

PLoS One. 2015 Aug 14;10(8):e0134247. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0134247. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Sonoporation using low-frequency high-pressure ultrasound (US) is a non-viral approach for in vitro and in vivo gene delivery. In this study, we developed a new sonoporation device designed for spatial and temporal control of ultrasound cavitation. The regulation system incorporated in the device allowed a real-time control of the cavitation level during sonoporation. This device was evaluated for the in vitro transfection efficiency of a plasmid coding for Green Fluorescent Protein (pEGFP-C1) in adherent and non-adherent cell lines. The transfection efficiency of the device was compared to those observed with lipofection and nucleofection methods. In both adherent and non-adherent cell lines, the sonoporation device allowed high rate of transfection of pEGFP-C1 (40-80%), as determined by flow cytometry analysis of GFP expression, along with a low rate of mortality assessed by propidium iodide staining. The transfection efficiency and toxicity of sonoporation on the non-adherent cell lines Jurkat and K562 were similar to those of nucleofection, while these two cell lines were resistant to transfection by lipofection. Moreover, sonoporation was used to produce three stably transfected human lymphoma and leukemia lines. Significant transfection efficiency was also observed in two fresh samples of human acute myeloid leukemia cells. In conclusion, we developed a user-friendly and cost-effective ultrasound device, well adapted for routine in vitro high-yield transfection experiments and which does not require the use of any transfection reagent or gas micro-bubbles.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Survival
  • Gene Transfer Techniques / instrumentation*
  • HL-60 Cells
  • Humans
  • In Vitro Techniques
  • Jurkat Cells
  • Leukemia / diagnostic imaging
  • Leukemia / genetics
  • Lymphoma / diagnostic imaging
  • Lymphoma / genetics
  • Sonication / instrumentation*
  • Sonication / methods
  • Transfection / instrumentation*
  • Transfection / methods
  • Ultrasonics / instrumentation*
  • Ultrasonics / methods
  • Ultrasonography

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the French National Research Agency ANR project "SonInCaRe" (2010-TECS-003-01), the Lyric grant INCa-DGOS-4664 and the European Project Eurostars E! 6173 named “Oncoson”. It was performed within the framework of the LabEx DevWeCan (ANR-10-LABX-0061) and CeLyA (ANR-10-LABX-0060) of Université de Lyon, within the program "Investissements d'Avenir" (ANR-11-IDEX-0007) operated by the French National Research Agency (ANR). Caviskills SAS provided support in the form of salaries for authors KC, CL and JLM, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.