Gene transfection has been widely applied in genome function and gene therapy. Although many efforts have been focused on designing carrier materials and transfection methods, the influence of mechanical stimulation on gene transfection efficiency has rarely been studied. Herein, dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA)-based stimulation bioreactors are designed to generate tensile and contractile stress on cells simultaneously. With the example of the EGFP transfection, cells with high membrane tension in the stretching stimulation regions had lower transfection efficiency, while the transfection efficiency of cells in the compressing regions tended to increase. Besides, the duty cycle and loading frequency of the applied stress on cells were also important factors that affect gene transfection efficiency. Furthermore, the pathways of cell endocytosis with the effect of mechanical stimulation were explored on the mechanism for the change of EGFP transfection efficiency. This design of the DEA-based bioreactor, as a strategy to study gene transfection efficiency, could be helpful for developing efficient transfection methods.
Keywords: DEA-based bioreactor; cell endocytosis; mechanical stimulation; membrane tension; transfection efficiency.