An improved method for increasing the efficiency of gene transfection and transduction

Transfection and transduction using lentivirus has gained attention in biomedical research. To date, how to reach the maximum transfection and viral transduction efficiency is still challenging. Here we compared the transfection and viral transduction efficiency using commercially available transfection reagents including FuGENE 6, Lipofectamine 2000 and Lipofectamine 3000 in different cell lines and primary cultured cells. Enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) was clearly seen in Eppendorf tubes from harvested cells using Lipofectamine 3000 without using a microscope and UV activation. Strong expression of EGFP was observed in HEK293 cells, mouse primary cortical neurons and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) using confocal microscopy. Western blot showed the strongest EGFP expression using cell lysates from Lipofectamine 3000 transfected HEK293 cells and transduced HUVECs compared with Lipofectamine 2000 or FuGENE 6 reagents. Using Cx43 shRNA lentivirus combined with Lipofectamine 3000 transfection reagent, we can achieve about 90% Cx43 knockdown efficacy in HUVECs. Therefore, our results suggest that a much higher transfection and viral transduction efficiency can be attained by using Lipofectamine 3000 transfection reagent.