Using Magnetic Nanoparticles to Enhance Site-specific Gene Transfection on Magneto-Electroporation Microchips

This study demonstrated that DNA associated with magnetic nanoparticles can be attracted to specific areas of cell surfaces under magnetic fields, which highly increased the DNA concentration at specific areas and further enhanced the gene transfection in an electroporation (EP) method. The superparamagnetic nanoparticle´s distribution could be operated by magnetic field, where the gravity effect could be neglected. Compared with the electroporation with and without electrostatic attracting force, the magneto-electroporation with magnetic attracting force showed higher delivery rate (63.05%) in the electroporation processes. Simulating an asymmetric magnetic field helps to create experiment environment with different intensities of magnetic flux density. The resultant difference can be identified by the profile of fluorescence. This report focused on enhancement and targeting of gene transfection using 6 nm gamma-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles and electroporation microchips.