The potential of archaeosomes as carriers of pDNA into mammalian cells

Figures & data

Figure 1. Dynamic-mode AFM topography image of archaeosomes.

Figure 2. TEM images of archaeosomes were unilamellar spheres of diameters close to 100 nm.

Table I. Physicochemical characterization of archaeosomes (mean ± SD, n = 3).

Archaeosome formulation	pH	Z-potential (mV)	Avg. diameter (nm)
Archaeosome (10 μg/μl)	7.72	− 41.4 ± 0.78	346.1 ± 11.81
Archaeosome (20 μg/μl)	7.72	− 41.8 ± 1.33	353.7 ± 6.75
Archaeosome + pDNA (50 ng/μl)	7.74	− 40.8 ± 0.89	417.8 ± 3.22
pDNA-encapsulated archaeosome	7.74	− 41.1 ± 1.23	490.6 ± 7.48

Figure 3. The transfection of archaeosomes made of total lipids (TL) or polar lipids (PL) of H. hispanica 2TK2 into HEK293 cells grown in 24-well plate. 1 μg pSV-β-Gal pDNA were diluted in DMEM (-) in a concentration of 25 ng/μl per well. pDNA was mixed with related amount of archaeosome given in figure and used in transfection assay. Experiments were performed in triplicate.

Figure 4. The effects of helper molecules on the transfection of pDNA with archaeosomes. HEK293 cells grown in 24-well plate were used in the experiments. Each well contains 1 μg pEGFP-N1 plasmid DNA diluted in the concentration of 25 ng/μl in DMEM (-), archaeosomes made of polar lipids of H. hispanica 2TK2 (10 μl) and helper molecules. (A) Archaeosome:pDNA (10 μl: 1 μg). (B) 20 mM CaCl₂ (C) 50 mM CaCl₂ (D) 100 mM CaCl₂ (E) pDNA:DOTAP (1 μg: 10 μl) F) Archaeosome:pDNA:DOTAP (10 μl: 1 μg: 10 μl).

Figure 5. The effects of CaCl₂ (A) and LiCl (B) as helper molecules with archaeosomes on the transfection of pDNA. HEK293 cells grown on 24-well plate were used. 1 μg pSV-β-Gal plasmid DNA was diluted in the concentration of 25 ng/μl per well in DMEM (-) and helper molecules were used in certain amounts indicated on the figure. Experiments were performed in triplicate.