• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.93-98
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• 1998

We have developed liposomes which can be easily prepared with inexpensive lipid, have enhanced stability, and can efficiently deliver DNA into the COS-l cells, Liposome formulations were prepared using cationic materials such as dimethyldioctadecyl ammonium bromide (DDAB), cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide(CTAB), We investigated the effect of cationic liposome formulations on in vitro DNA transfection, DDAB-containing liposomes showed increased transfection efficiency which was 3.2-fold as much as that by $Lipofectin^{\circledR}$, but CTAB-containing liposomes were inactive in gene transfection. The effect of colipid of DDAB-containing liposome was also investegated. As a colipid, dioleylphosphatidylethanolamine(DOPE) and cholesterol did altered the transfection efficiency of DDAB-containing liposomes. And increased DDAB concentration lowered the transfection efficiency. The optimum amount of liposomal formulation was $10\;{\mu}M$ for $1\;{\mu}g$ of DNA. In the experiment of stability, DOPE-containing liposomes formulation showed a broad size distribution and separation of two major peaks on a 5th day of preparation, but liposomes containing cholesterol was stable for 10 days. DDAB-containing liposomal DNA delivery system was prepared easily and was stable.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.93-99
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• 2005

Intracellular trafficking of transferrin-conjugated dimethyldioctadecyl-ammonium bromide liposome $(T_f-liposome)/DNA$ complexes in HeLa cells was studied using the double-labeled fluorescence technique and confocal microscopy. The size of the $T_f-liposome/DNA$ complex was about 367 nm in diameter and the zeta-potential of it at a 5:1 (w/w) ratio was almost neutral. The intracellular pathway of the $T_f-liposome/DNA$ complex, noted as green (FITC), red (rhodamine) or yellow (FITC + rhodamine) fluorescence, was elucidated from the plasma membrane to the endosome (or lysosome), and finally to the nucleus. The results of this study indicate that plasmid DNA enters into the nucleus not only as a free form but as an associated form complexed with $T_f-liposome$. More interestingly, the $T_f-liposome$ undergoes a nuclear location in the form of ordered structures. This could be a very useful piece of information in designing a safe and advanced gene delivery system.