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Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Development of an Economical DNA Delivery System by "Acufection" and its Application to Skin Research
Published on: April 19, 2017
Nucleofection: a new method for cutaneous gene transfer?
Frank Jacobsen1, Janine Mertens-Rill, Juergen Beller
1Department of Plastic Surgery, BG University Hospital Bergmannsheil, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum 44789, Germany.
Background:
Transfection efficacy after nonviral gene transfer in primary epithelial cells is limited. The aim of this study was to compare transfection efficacy of the recently available method of nucleofection with the established transfection reagent FuGENE6.
Methods:
Primary human keratinocytes (HKC), primary human fibroblasts (HFB), and a human keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT) were transfected with reporter gene construct by FuGENE6 or Amaxa Nucleofector device. At corresponding time points, beta-galactosidase expression, cell proliferation (MTT-Test), transduction efficiency (X-gal staining), cell morphology, and cytotoxicity (CASY) were determined.
Results:
Transgene expression after nucleofection was significantly higher in HKC and HFB and detected earlier (3 h vs. 24 h) than in FuGENE6. After lipofection 80%-90% of the cells remained proliferative without any influence on cell morphology. In contrast, nucleofection led to a decrease in keratinocyte cell size, with only 20%-42% proliferative cells.
Conclusion:
Related to the method-dependent increase of cytotoxicity, transgene expression after nucleofection was earlier and higher than after lipofection.
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