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Free keywords:
Analysis of Variance
Animals
Cell Line
Cell Nucleus/*metabolism
Cell Proliferation
Electroporation/*methods
Energy Metabolism/*physiology
Flow Cytometry
Humans
Mice
Microscopy, Fluorescence
Oxazines/metabolism
Oxidation-Reduction
Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
Tetrazolium Salts/metabolism
Thiazoles/metabolism
Transfection/*methods
Xanthenes/metabolism
Abstract:
Transfection has become an everyday technique widely used for functional studies in living cells. The choice of the particular transfection method is usually determined by its efficiency and toxicity, and possible functional consequences specific to the method used are normally overlooked. We describe here that nucleofection, a method increasingly used because of its convenience and high efficiency, increases the metabolic rate of some cancer cells, which can be misleading when used as a measure of proliferation. Moreover, nucleofection can alter the subcellular expression pattern of the transfected protein. These undesired effects are independent of the transfected nucleic acid, but depend on the particular cell line used. Therefore, the interpretation of functional data using this technology requires further controls and caution.
