title: Size Specific Transfection to Mammalian Cells by Micropillar Array Electroporation.
abstract: Electroporation serves as a promising non-viral gene delivery approach, while its current configuration carries several drawbacks associated with high-voltage electrical pulses and heterogeneous treatment on individual cells. Here we developed a new micropillar array electroporation (MAE) platform to advance the electroporation-based delivery of DNA and RNA probes into mammalian cells. By introducing well-patterned micropillar array texture on the electrode surface, the number of pillars each cell faces varies with its plasma membrane surface area, despite their large population and random locations. In this way, cell size specific electroporation is conveniently carried out, contributing to a 2.5~3 fold increase on plasmid DNA transfection and an additional 10-55% transgene knockdown with siRNA probes, respectively. The delivery efficiency varies with the number and size of micropillars as well as their pattern density. As MAE works like many single cell electroporation are carried out in parallel, the electrophysiology response of individual cells is representative, which has potentials to facilitate the tedious, cell-specific protocol screening process in current bulk electroporation (i.e., electroporation to a large population of cells). Its success might promote the wide adoption of electroporation as a safe and effective non-viral gene delivery approach needed in many biological research and clinical treatments.
authors.affiliation: Chemical Engineering, Louisiana Tech University, PO Box 10137, Ruston, LA, 71272, USA.|Institute for Micromanufacturing, Louisiana Tech University, PO Box 10137, Ruston, LA, 71272, USA.
authors.forename: Yingbo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zu
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering, Louisiana Tech University, PO Box 10137, Ruston, LA, 71272, USA.|Center for Biomedical Engineering and Rehabilitations, Louisiana Tech University, PO Box 10137, Ruston, LA, 71272, USA.
authors.forename: Shuyan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Chemical Engineering, Louisiana Tech University, PO Box 10137, Ruston, LA, 71272, USA.|Institute for Micromanufacturing, Louisiana Tech University, PO Box 10137, Ruston, LA, 71272, USA.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering, Louisiana Tech University, PO Box 10137, Ruston, LA, 71272, USA.|Center for Biomedical Engineering and Rehabilitations, Louisiana Tech University, PO Box 10137, Ruston, LA, 71272, USA.
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Chemical Engineering, Louisiana Tech University, PO Box 10137, Ruston, LA, 71272, USA.|Institute for Micromanufacturing, Louisiana Tech University, PO Box 10137, Ruston, LA, 71272, USA.|Center for Biomedical Engineering and Rehabilitations, Louisiana Tech University, PO Box 10137, Ruston, LA, 71272, USA.
authors.forename: Shengnian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018274:Electroporation / Q000379:methods; D015870:Gene Expression; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D006801:Humans; D020014:K562 Cells; D051379:Mice; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D010957:Plasmids; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics; D014162:Transfection / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D034741:RNA, Small Interfering