Bio-Rad has released a technical note entitled 'Electroporation of Smooth Muscle Cells Using the Gene Pulser MXcell Electroporation System'.
The technical note was written by Holly Reynolds PhD and David A Dean PhD of the University of Rochester Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics.
Smooth muscle cells (SMC) lie at the centre of a number of pathologies, including vascular proliferative diseases such as atherosclerosis, restenosis, vein graft stenosis, and asthma.
In order to study SMC biology in general and the mechanisms of pathogenesis of these diseases in particular, molecular manipulation of these cells is necessary.
However, transfection of these cells, especially primary isolates from human origin, has been difficult.
The technical note (5935) examines ways to rapidly optimise experiential conditions for more efficient transfection of several SMC types.
'We chose to work with the Gene Pulser MXcell electroporation system because of the numerous transfection protocols allowing multiple cell types to be transfected at the same time, limiting time, reagents, and effort,' said Dean.
An advantage of Bio-Rad's Gene Pulser MXcell electroporation system is that in addition to preset protocols, every critical parameter is programmable, such as waveform, voltage, and number of pulses, enabling researchers to find the ideal set of conditions for their specific cells.
The Gene Pulser MXcell electroporation system's 'open' architecture permitted Dean's research team to easily determine the optimum protocols for efficient transfection of SMC.
