Shock waves and DNA-cationic lipid assemblies: a synergistic approach to express exogenous genes in human cells.

Cationic lipid/DNA complexes (lipoplexes) represent a powerful tool for cell transfection; however, their use is still limited by important concerns, including toxicity and poor internalization into deep tissues. In this work, we investigated the use of shock wave-induced acoustic cavitation in vitro for the transfection of lipoplexes in human embryo kidney 293 cells. We selected shock waves with the ability to internalize 10-kDa fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran into cells while maintaining survival rates above 50%.